Valentino Rossi: ‘The error was mine’

Valentino Rossi has accepted the blame for the horrific crash that ruined his hopes of winning a third successive MotoGP crown in 2010.

Rossi pushed too hard on a new rear Bridgestone tyre that had fallen below optimum working temperature and high-sided his factory YZR-M1 at 110mph in practice for his home race at Mugello last weekend.

He suffered a broken right leg in the crash and is going to be sidelined for a minimum of five races. 

But Rossi conceded he’d contributed to his own demise. His own reluctance not to show rookie Hector Barbera the secrets to a fast lap round the spectacular Mugello track saw him slow by nine seconds in the third section.

That decision let crucial temperature drop out of the left side of his rear Bridgestone tyre and when he accelerated hard at the Biondetti chicane, he was viciously throw from his YZR-M1 with no chance to react.

Rossi said: “I remember everything perfectly. I didn’t hit my head and I didn’t hit anything else. The airbag in my leathers worked very well and my helmet was just slightly scratched. I don’t have a single bruise! The problem was that I landed on my leg, and it was stuck under my body.  

“If I had landed on my back it would have been different. I had a new tyre and I’d done two laps, then I slowed down because I had Barbera behind me. When I came back onto the racing line (Dani) Pedrosa arrived and I didn’t want to cause a problem for him so I moved again but then when I reopened the gas, it happened suddenly and unexpectedly.

“Seven seconds were enough to make the tyre drop temperature dramatically. The error was mine.”

Image courtesy of MotoGP.com