(ANSA) - Rome, November 20 - Veteran Italian motorcycling ace Valentino Rossi said Monday he was scared of retiring.

Rossi, who turns 39 on February 16, told German weekly Speedweek that "I'm afraid of stopping, because it will be hard to find something else.

"MotoGP is my whole life".

Rossi went on to say that "running the (MotoGP) Academy will be good and enjoyable, but it's not the same thing." The nine-time world champ said "I always watch the Moto3 and Moto2 races with my boys in the Academy. Sometimes I feel a bit tired. But then my desire to continue to test myself prevails".

In 2018, too, the year his contract with Yamaha runs out, Rossi said "the first target remains winning the world title.

"The second one is winning races, and the third to get onto the podium", he said after a tough 2017 in which he won only one race, at Assen.

Seven of Rossi's nine titles have been in the premier class.

