Rossi out in the cold

Yamaha MotoGP riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards took time out from getting ready for the new season by heading up to the Italian Alps to try out a pair of Yamaha snowmobiles at the World Ski Championships.

The pair got machines in their own colours and proceeded to blast around a ready made track.

The two also took time out to talk about the upcoming season, saying that the YZR-M1 has been massively redesigned this year to keep it competitive.

“The bike last year was good, but we came to the limit with its development and now Yamaha has made us a bike that is almost completely new,” said Rossi. “It’s already fast but of course there is more work to do on it. I think this will be a very exciting Championship; it’s clear Ducati have made some improvements and of course Biaggi and Gibernau will be competitive, so there is a big challenge for us!”

Gauloises Yamaha Team boss Davide Brivio continued “The 2005 version of the YZR-M1 is very different, it has had an engine redesign, although we still have an in-line four according to Yamaha’s philosophy. Yamaha has also changed the chassis and cowling and there are many other new details. Already we have made progress in the development of this new bike and we have five more tests to continue to improve, so we hope we will be ready.”