The lights had not yet gone out. The bikes were lined up on a wet grid, the safety car had pronounced the track dry enough for slicks, and then, on the warm-up lap, it began to rain again. Valentino Rossi raised his arm in the air - the international signal for I am not going to race this - and turned for the pit lane. One by one, the other riders followed him in. Mechanics in red and yellow and blue scrambled to swap slicks for full wets while the Assen public address scrambled to explain to 100,000 fans why the seventh round of the 2003 MotoGP Championship was suddenly not starting. The most decorated rider in the world had, in effect, called a strike on safety grounds. The officials pushed the start to 15:50 and reopened the pit lane.
TT Circuit Assen has been called the Cathedral of Motorcycle Racing since long before Rossi - the Doctor, to his fans - was born. It is the only venue on the calendar that has hosted a round of the world championship every year since the championship began in 1949, with the sole exception of 2020 when the race was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By 2003 Rossi was the reigning champion, leading the standings with 135 points after six rounds. His insistence on full wets that afternoon was less rebellion than diagnosis. Slicks on a track that had been dry, then wet, then declared dry again, then was wetting again under a fresh rain - he had seen the corner exits, and he was not interested. The other riders had seen the same corner exits. They followed him.
When the race finally went green, the man who won it was not Rossi. Sete Gibernau, starting seventh on the grid, threaded inside both Max Biaggi and Rossi at the second corner - the Haarbocht - and led the opening lap. He gave the lead back to Biaggi, took it again, gave it back, took it for keeps. The rain ebbed and a thin dry line began to appear in the final laps, but by then Gibernau had built a margin of nearly ten seconds. He crossed the line standing up on the footpegs and checking over his shoulder. It was his third win of the season. Biaggi finished second. Rossi, the man who had stopped the race from starting on slicks, crossed the line third with a celebratory wheelie that suggested he was perfectly satisfied with the championship math.
Loris Capirossi had qualified on pole with a 1:59.770 and very nearly missed his own start - he was still in the pit lane minutes before the lights, and when he finally got away, the start was dismal enough to drop him deep into the field. He clawed back to sixth. Troy Bayliss ran as high as third before crashing on lap six, remounting, and finishing nowhere. Noriyuki Haga high-sided over a puddle on the penultimate lap and stood looking at his ruined bike in the grass. On the parade lap, Rossi ran out of fuel and pushed his bike home on foot. On the podium, the trio sprayed champagne over the crowd; Gibernau was handed the Spanish flag by fans who had run onto the track. The 2003 Dutch TT was won by patience and judgment, but its defining image is from before the green flag - a champion in the rain, arm in the air, leading his rivals into the pits.
TT Circuit Assen is located at 52.96°N, 6.52°E, just southwest of the city of Assen in the Dutch province of Drenthe. From cruising altitude the circuit is unmistakable: a long, looping ribbon of asphalt with the distinctive infield buildings of a permanent international venue. Nearest airports: Groningen Airport Eelde (EHGG) about 22 km northwest, Hoogeveen (EHHO, general aviation) about 28 km southwest. Best viewed on the last weekend in June when the grandstands fill for the Dutch TT; otherwise the circuit is visible year-round against the surrounding farmland.