Johann Zarco doesn’t believe that Valentino Rossi blocked him from staying with Yamaha
When Johann Zarco and Red Bull KTM announced they would be together from next season on, there were some voices that said that Zarco’s exit from Yamaha was because Valentino Rossi blocked him from having a factory bike or moving to the factory Yamaha team.
Even Johann Zarco’s manager spoke about it, and some fans thought that Rossi did in fact block Zarco from staying with Yamaha.
After the Le Mans race, where he didn’t finish because of a crash, Johann Zarco spoke with Italian news portal Corse di Moto about these rumours. The French rider couldn’t be clearer and he believes Rossi had nothing to do with him moving out from Yamaha to KTM
“Yamaha didn’t do me an offer about my future. I thought I could have contacts [with Yamaha] at the end of 2017, but that wasn’t the case. There were rumours that Valentino would have blocked me, but I don’t think so. I have respect Vale too much to think that and even if he is very important inside Yamaha, it’s the Japanese who decide. So, nobody closed the road, only that Yamaha wanted to work more with Maverick and Valentino and plan the future with them”.