Spoiler!
Rossi won five consecutive 500cc/MotoGP World Championships from 2001 to 2005, and becomes only the second rider in history - after Giacomo Agostini - to regain the premier-class crown after two successive defeats. Agostini is now the only rider with more premier-class world titles than Rossi, having won eight.
Rossi is the first rider to win the premier-class title on four different types of motorcycle: A Honda 500cc four-cylinder two-stroke (2001), Honda 990cc five-cylinder stroke-stroke (2002, 2003), Yamaha 990cc four-cylinder four-stroke (2004, 2005) and a Yamaha 800cc four-cylinder four-stroke (2008).
There is an eleven year period spanning the time from Rossi's first world title in the 125cc class in 1997 and this year. The only rider with a longer period between first and last world titles is Angel Nieto who won his first in the 50cc class in 1969 and his last in the 125cc class in 1984.