Le Mans MotoGP: Valentino Rossi explains French farce

Valentino Rossi blew his chance to win a 100th Grand Prix in his home race in Mugello later this month after an extraordinary French GP race.

The 30-year-old suffered a crash, he needed to stop in the pits three times to change bikes and carry out a ride through penalty for speeding in the pitlane as he ended a dramatic 28-lap flag-to-flag race in 16th.

With the race starting on a wet track, Rossi quickly manoeuvred his Fiat Yamaha into second place behind team-mate Jorge Lorenzo when he opted to come into the pits after five laps to change to his YZR-M1 fitted with slick tyres.

It was a gamble that quickly backfired when Rossi crashed out on a wet patch just a lap later. He managed to crawl back to the pits despite a broken gear lever to switch bikes again, but he was forced to go out with at least one rain tyre under rules about bike changes.

Incredibly, in his haste to get back out on track, Rossi broke the pitlane speed limit and was forced in for a ride through penalty. He then had to make another stop in the pits on lap 11 to go back to a bike set-up on full slicks again with the track drying rapidly.

It left Rossi in 16th and two laps down as he surrendered the series lead to Lorenzo, who produced a masterful display to win for the second time in three races.

Reflecting on one of the most bizarre races of illustrious career, Rossi said: “I had difficulties from the start today and I really could not ride my bike to its best. Already 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 – being among the first to change the bike – pays off.

Of course 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. Luckily I was able to make it back to the pits and 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. We’ve had problems throughout the entire weekend with the set-up of the bike and today 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!”

Rossi’s French GP drama also ended his impressive run of 12 successive podium finishes.