Valentino Rossi: Maybe I could have won, we'll never know…
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Valentino Rossi looked on course for a 200th grand prix podium, in his 350th appearance and just one day after announcing he’ll remain in MotoGP by joining Petronas Yamaha next season.Check out the MotoGP YouTube channel – CLICK HERECurrent Petronas rider Fabio Quartararo was the only person ahead of Rossi as he tipped into Turn 1 at a chilly Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with nine laps remaining in Sunday’s race.The Frenchman had an advantage of just 0.7s, but disaster struck as Rossi flicked his M1 from right-to-left for Turn 2, his front tyre casually sliding away to send rider and bike into the gravel trap.”It’s a great shame because it was a good weekend. I was fast from Friday and we were able to improve the bike, so I was strong,” said Rossi, who had qualified on the front row.”I was pushing because I wanted to stay close to Fabio but today the temperature was very low and Turn 2 is always dangerous because on the left you have less temperature on the front tyre.cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: “004d570a-7977-45f7-bc0c-a349bf945b15” }).render(“5a36b5247b9f4bf5b8815714b45226d6″Maybe I pushed too much in the corner entry and I lost the front.”Looking at the data, it’s a really, really similar to the lap before but with this temperature, I needed to pay more attention on the left.”It was a great, great shame because we need a podium after a [strong] weekend like this.”While Rossi’s first priority was the rostrum, the huge drop in tyre performance during the closing stages – which saw Quartararo lapping two-seconds slower than when Rossi was with him and three-seconds from his best race lap – means victory was also not out of the question.”At the beginning, we had a good pace but I tried to ride very sweet for the front and rear tyre because I knew, like everybody, that at the end of the race we will suffer. So we stayed at the front, but I didn’t push too much to be there,” said Rossi, without a MotoGP win since 2017.”Fabio, Franco and me were the fastest in the first part of the race. And we were very close. Maybe Fabio was a little bit better, but when the tyre went down a lot, also Quartararo lost very much in the last laps.”4″We will never know because I ed, but if I was able to slow down less [than him] because maybe I was a bit better in the last laps, I can also win.”gg869461.jpg accImages.createImage();The Monster Yamaha rider had spent the early stages between Petronas team-mates Morbidelli and Quartararo, moving into second place when Morbidelli made a mistake with ten laps to go.”After Franco did a mistake into Turn 1, I pushed because I don’t want too much disadvantage from Fabio. I want to try to stay close to him also because I knew the bikes that are usually faster at the end of the race, like Suzuki and Ducati, were not far behind.”5″For sure I can arrive on the podium today and I don’t know what would have happened in the last laps because everybody – especially Quartararo – slowed down a lot.”Quartararo went on to win the race by just 0.9s from Joan Mir, whose Suzuki team-mate Alex Rins completed a podium covered by 1.9s.Morbidelli was fourth while Rossi’s team-mate Maverick Vinales could only salvage ninth after a bad start. Vinales is now 18 points from title leader Quartararo, with Rossi 50 points back in 11th overall.”6Many fans hearts sank as @ValeYellow46 ed out of the race while chasing the lead!The Doctor’s 200th premier class podium will have to wait a little longer! #CatalanGP P5DwP84SYH— MotoGP (@MotoGP) September 27, 2020Luca ‘like a machine’Rossi’s despondent body language as he trudged out of the gravel trap underlined what a bitter blow it had been. But the day wasn’t all bad, with brother Luca Marini’s inch-perfect Moto2 victory helping soothe his disappointment.”The victory of Luca is very positive and can help me swallow my mistake,” Rossi said.”Today he impressed me a lot with how he rode the bike. He is like a machine. He never made any mistakes. When Lowes caught him, you could see Luca’s style close-up and it was perfect.”7″So great congratulations to him… and I hope that he doesn’t find a place in MotoGP next year and remains in Moto2!” Rossi joked.Rossi and VR46 are in talks with Avintia Ducati about a place for Marini on the 2021 premier-class grid.
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