Just when the 2017 season was looking good for Rossi, the champion suffered a huge blow to his run due to injuries on his leg during an enduro training accident. It put him out of the race for him to claim another title.

Fractures of the tibia and fibula saw ‘the Doctor’ undergo surgery that threatened him to miss at least two race weekends of this calendar season. But he jumped back on his feet and went in to ride at Motorland Aragon GP, the 14th venue of the season.

Taking inspirations from such amounts of commitment, the Laureus World Sports Awards 2018 has seen it fitting to nominate Rossi for ‘Comeback of the Year’, which he also won back in 2011.

Considered to be the “Oscars” of the sports world, the Laureus awards rarely see any entry from the motorcycle world. But with Rossi, as you know, anything can happen. In out of eight categories and 47 nominations, our ‘Doctor’ might just emerge the champ here.

This category, of course, comes with heavy competition. Topping the list is the great Tennis sensation, Roger Federer. He is one of the favorites for this category along with being nominated for ‘best male athlete of the year.’ Then there are two football teams: Barcelona and Chapecoense, and two athletes: Justin Gatlin and Sally Pearson, nominated for ‘comback of the year.’

The only other motorcycle rider nominated for the main category was Marc Márquez in 2015. But he lost that to another tennis star, Novak Djokovic.

This is how all of this happened. After missing his home event at Misano GP, it looked like his championship was over for Rossi with his dream of the tenth championship title.

But because of the champion that he is, Rossi showed exceptional levels of commitment and attitude and within a span of 20 days, and he went on to riding the Yamaha R1-M for close to 20 laps at Misano. Coming out of it, he and the team felt confident that he had an improved feeling and a positive impression of Rossi’s rideability.

This stunt led him and his team to believe in reviving the season’s plan and headed to the next MotoGP venue, Motorland Aragon GP. There he was evaluated of his fitness by the circuit doctors where Rossi had to demonstrate that his leg will be capable of handling the strains of riding the MotoGP bike at full limits.

Rossi had already decided to ride on the MotoGP machine at FP1 on Friday where he ran the bike through its paces giving him a chance to assess his leg’s condition for himself. Gear manufacturer Dainese has provided the rider with a specially reinforced cast for his leg, and a bespoke boot for enhanced support.

That was it. He then rode the rest of the season without any more troubles. He completed the season with performance lower than the previous season with fewer victories, fewer podiums, fewer points and a worse final position. Yet, our champ here is still amongst the most talked guy in the MotoGP world.

That itself speaks volumes about the person Rossi is. And I hope he clinches this award too.