In the ultra-competitive world of top-level international sports, some stars just shine brighter than others. Think Usain Bolt, Bob Beamon, Sergey Bubka or Juan Manuel Fangio. Another member of this exalted club is Italian motorcycle racer Giacomo Agostini. His 15 motorcycle world championship wins in the 350cc and the 500cc categories, between 1966 and 1975, still look to be on solid ground, with another Italian, Valentino Rossi, the closest yet with nine world titles to his name. It gets even more overwhelming when one considers that Agostini won the world championships in both the categories for five years on the trot, from 1968 to 1972.

Like most racing drivers and riders, Agostini, ‘Ago’ to friends, is built small. The man’s so unassuming it would be easy to pass him by in a crowd. So it took a few seconds to sink in that I’d just shaken hands with the man whose poster — streaking past crouched low on his MV Agusta — used to be on my wall. For a few seconds I was a fanboy again.

THE RECORD

Does he think his record will ever be broken, we ask. Ago doesn’t give a straight yes or no. “Freddie Spencer, he wins two titles, 250 and 500; today people are happy to do just one,” he says. Spencer was the last racer to race and win in two categories in world championships in both back in 1985.

COMPETITION LEVELS

What about the level of competition? Does he think he had it easier than MotoGP racers have it today? “To win, you always must give 100 per cent. Today, you see, compared to my time, everybody is more close, but the winners are only two during the year. That’s like my time. Like I win, or Mike Hailwood wins, or Jim Redman, or Phil Read or Kenny Roberts. Today, the winners are only two — sometimes it’s (Marc) Marquez and sometimes it’s (Jorge) Lorenzo. Now the difference maybe that the fourth or the fifth rider or the sixth rider is coming to the finish line within five seconds.”

He thinks today’s bikes are closer in performance than in the past. “Everybody has the technology today — the computer, the ECUs (electronic control units), and now everybody finds it easier to be together. In the end, the best rider maybe wins by one or two seconds. But it’s always the best rider that wins.”

Agostini started racing with Moto Morini and then raced with MV Agusta, winning 13 titles. Towards the end of his racing days he moved to Yamaha and won his last two titles.

THE JAPANESE QUARTET

In the last 20 years, the MotoGP championship has been won by Japanese bikes on 19 occasions. But it wasn’t always like this. Agostini was racing at a time when the quartet of Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki were coming to the fore. In fact, he raced with Yamahas after years with MV Agusta. We ask how different were they from the European bikemakers.

“We raced with the traditional four-stroke (bikes). And the Japanese came with the two-stroke. These engines were smaller and very light.” The four-stroke engines had been tuned and every year the gain in power was very little, he says. But the two-stroke was like a surge because they were easier to ride with the lighter engines. “I decided to change from MV Agusta to Yamaha because I thought that if I wanted to win, it was time to change to a two-stroke engine. After that time, for 20 years, it was only two-stroke engines. After that we have come back again today to four-stroke.”

RACING FRENEMIES

Agostini holds some riders in very high esteem. “I raced with many good riders. But I think one of the best was Mike Hailwood. I raced with Kenny Roberts… Later Mick Doohan was also very good,” he says.

After hanging up his riding leathers, Ago tried his hand at racing cars. There were people like John Surtees who had made that switch pretty well. Says Ago, “Surtees was very, very good. He changed, he raced with the cars and he won. But it is not easy for us. If you start to race with the car at the end of your season, it’s too late. I tried with the car, but I tried when I had finished my career on two wheels. But it’s too late because I was becoming too old for motorsport.”

Ago was not only competing in the 350cc and 500cc categories on the tracks, but racking up an enviable record of 10 wins in the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy races as well. He says: “Isle of Man is a very difficult and dangerous track. And every year I lost friends there. But for the riders, Isle of Man gives a very different kind of emotion. It’s very difficult but also exciting. But you must think about safety — if you crash, you’re finito.”

RIDING THEN AND NOW

“There are a few big differences,” says Ago. One is safety. “Today we have very safe tracks, with the space, if you crash you do not go to the trees or to the walls or anything. Then there are the helmet and the leathers. My leathers weighed 1.2kg. Today it’s 13kg. So when I crashed with my leathers in my times…”

And then from last year airbags have become mandatory. “Now, if you crash, you could stand up and go again. In my time, if you crashed, adieu, you know. And also the technology, but technology I don’t like very much. I remember, when we used to race, I worked with my technical people and we solved the problems together. Today everything is done on the computer. Also you have the assistance for braking. In my time we had to do everything.”

“I remember when I started to race, I started with my private bike. My mechanic was an electrician, another mechanic was actually a baker who was just a friend. And I won. So this was when I started with Moto Morini in 1962. This was in the junior races. And I won 18 Italian championships, too, because when I started I won Italian championships and I went up and up from there.”

FAVOURITE RIDES

With all the bikes I won. So when a bike gives you victory, you love the bike. With the Moto Morini, I dreamt with that bike. And afterwards MV Agusta and then when I changed completely from four-stroke to two-stroke and from a team from Italy I went to Japan. Between two- and four-stroke, I’ll go with the four-stroke — I like it very much. When the first two-strokes came, they were easier to ride. Today, the technology has swung back to four-stroke.

Giacomo Agostini has a record of 122 Grand Prix wins and 15 World Championships titles Picture by Abhijit Mitra

The Telegraph