4. Valentino Rossi (MotoGP)
Valentino Rossi doesn’t exist in MotoGP to finish second but this weekend’s race and result was probably his most significant since returning to Yamaha. He may have won at Assen last season but that victory will always come with a question…what would have happened if Jorge Lorenzo hadn’t broken his collarbone in practice on the Thursday?
On equal terms with both riders fully fit, Jorge Lorenzo has had the edge at every venue the Yamaha duo have gone to during their second spell as teammates but Valentino was in the mood to change that, taking advantage of Jorge’s poor start to leapfrog him on the opening lap.
As the race settled into a rhythm with Marc Marquez a long way up the road, focus shifted to the fight for second with Rossi leading Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa and it seemed as though Jorge was biding his time, circulating within a second of the no.46 YZR-M1. But with the race entering its closing stages, it was he and not Rossi that began to wilt with Pedrosa motoring past and for the first time in their current partnership, ‘The Doctor’ had defeated him in a true head-to-head.
The job wasn’t done yet though with a fast-finishing Pedrosa looking to deprive him of second but Rossi didn’t buckle, maintaining the consistency in the late-1m40s which had put him in that position and P2 was deservedly his.
(Photo Credit: MotoGP.com)
