Valentino Rossi and Osvaldo the Chicken: The Day MotoGP Lost Its Mind

Valentino Rossi and Osvaldo the Chicken: The Day MotoGP Lost Its Mind

If you’ve followed Rossi long enough, you already know he never needed help making a race weekend entertaining. The man could win a title and still find time to craft his wild race celebrations. But nothing sums up peak early-career Rossi charm like Osvaldo. A chicken. A fake sponsor. And a media circus so ridiculous it could only happen to Rossi.

How it started

Back in 1998, Rossi and his crew introduce us to a new sponsor “Polleria Osvaldo”, claiming some mysterious chicken mogul is now bankrolling Team Rossi. Total nonsense. And because Rossi’s garage has always been half workshop, half improv comedy club, the boys double down. They dress a mate in a full chicken suit. Rossi gives this chicken a pillion ride like it’s the most natural post-race ritual in the world.

The thing is, he sold it. Completely straight face. Like of course he’s sponsored by a poultry empire. Why wouldn’t he be.

The Italian press meltdown

Here’s where it gets legendary. The media believed it.

Not just one outlet. The whole machine. Newspapers. TV. Reporters who normally dissect lap data like it’s holy scripture suddenly pivoted to investigative journalism on the whereabouts of Osvaldo, the mysterious millionaire chicken baron financing their young superstar.

They’re calling business registries. They’re sending crews to farms. Journalists are out there trying to find a man who does not exist, all because Rossi thought a chicken sticker would be funny.

And honestly, the dedication was impressive. You’d think Rossi had announced a new V5 engine for his 250, not a new bird sponsor.

Eventually the team had to peel the sticker off because Osvaldo, the imaginary poultry king, was getting too much screen time.

What it says about Rossi

You’ve got all the wins, the titles, the records. But moments like this are why Rossi became the goat for an entire generation.

He understood something most riders forget. Fans don’t just follow lap times. They follow personality. They want to feel like they’re part of the garage, part of the joke, part of the chaos.

Osvaldo wasn’t a marketing stunt. It was garage humor which Rossi later admitted with his signature Rossi grin.

Osvaldo never existed, but he still might be one of the most iconic “sponsors” MotoGP ever had.

And that tells you everything you need to know about the man himself and how he changed the sport for an entire generation.

To celebrate the greatest prank and the legend who created it, we've created the Polleria Osvaldo Tee. Osvaldo would approve.

Faster Factory Chicken Tee