Valentino Rossi ranks 51st in Forbes World's Highest Paid Athletes

via Twowheelsblog

Valentino Rossi may have taken a pay cut to ride for Yamaha for two years and his earnings have dropped from last year, but the former World Champion is still one the best paid athletes in the world, and as usual the only motorcycle racer present in Forbes’ list of the World’s Highest-Paid Athletes.

Among golf superstars like Tiger Woods, who is the top earner and first on the list with a whopping $78.1 million, and tennis, basketball, and various baseball stars, motorsports stars rank slightly lower, like F1 driver Fernando Alonso who is ranked 19th, Lewis Hamilton who is 26th or NASCAR drivers Dale Earnhardt, Jr. who is 32nd and Jimmie Johnson who is 41st.

Rossi now ranks 51st, while in 2012 he was 20th (with $30 million) his earnings are currently estimated at $22 million - $12 million in salaries and bonuses, while endorsements bring in $10 million into the personal coffers of the MotoGP star.