Valentino Rossi at le Mans

Valentino Rossi was confident ahead of Le Mans, but unfortunately after a crash early on coupled with three bike changes and a ride through penalty it proved to be a tough day at the office for the reigning World Champion as he finished with zero points.

 

Fiat Yamaha's number one draw card ventured into pit lane four times at Le Mans, three times he went in to change bikes and once for a ride through penalty, this was a result of a speeding infringement in pit lane, Rossi appeared to get his strategy wrong as he suffered what would prove to be a costly fifth lap crash having made an early switch onto slicks. A fortnight ahead of his home race at his beloved Mugello circuit the Italian superstar has now slipped to equal second place in the standings and it is now his less fancied team mate Jorge Lorenzo that sits on top of the MotoGP championship standing by one point, courtesy of his magnificent win at Le Mans.

Rossi had this to say in reviewing his race “I had difficulties from the start and I really could not ride my bike to its best. By the fourth lap I felt that I was quite slow and that I couldn’t ride as I wanted. I decided to change bikes early because usually this strategy pays off. I knew that I had to warm the tyres up a little bit but I crashed anyway in that corner because at that point the track was still wet and I just didn’t ride into it in a calm enough manner.”

Valentino Rossi then added “Luckily I was able to make it back to the pits and then later I changed again, but the rule says that if you change the bike again then you have to use one wet tyre, and so this is what we did. When I started that time, the pit-limiter on my bike was not on and so I was given a ride-through for speeding, but by that time it was too late for our race anyway.”

The Italian then went on to summarise the round four results overall, saying “We’ve had problems throughout the entire weekend with the set-up of the bike and I was just hoping that I could stay with the riders in front and get some important points for the championship. Now we go to Mugello, my home GP, where I will perhaps be even more motivated than usual!”

There is no doubt that Valentino Rossi will be on a mission at Mugello in front of his home crowd and a circuit he loves.