Valentino Rossi’s Ducati struggle surprises rivals

MotoGP world championship title contenders Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo have said they are surprised at Valentino Rossi’s failure to be a more competitive force on Ducati’s factory Desmosedici machine in 2011.

Australian Stoner won 23 races in a four-year stint with the Bologna factory and he delivered Ducati its first MotoGP world title in dominant fashion back in 2007.

But Italian Rossi has failed to make a major impact since he quit Yamaha and hasn’t even come close to claiming regular podiums, let alone victories in a bitterly disappointing campaign so far.

Stoner, who won three out of the last six races for Ducati in 2010 before he switched to Honda’s factory squad, said he was at a loss to explain why Rossi had found the transfer such a complex challenge.

Stoner, who has won five out of 10 races so far in 2011 for Honda, including a stunning success at Laguna Seca last month, said: “I knew the bike from last season but now he is on a bike they have developed themselves so I have no idea, I’ve never ridden his bike.  This is the bike they thought would be a step forward. 

“It was a hard bike to ride but I was able to be successful over the past few years although not as successful as I would like, and I also made some mistakes. 

“But it is surprising because the talent of Valentino is a lot better than this and I’m sure if he was still on a Yamaha he would be pushing for victory.

“His speed is still there, so they just need to find out what is wrong the bike. But I really expected them to get closer.”

Reigning world champion Lorenzo too says he’s been shocked at Rossi’s struggle to be competitive for the Bologna factory in the opening 10 races of the season.

The reigning world champion said he expected a much stronger threat from bitter rival Rossi after the Italian’s big money switch from Yamaha, where the pair were team-mates between 2008 and ’10.

Rossi has only scored one podium so far this season and that came in somewhat fortuitous circumstances in Le Mans when the nine-times world champion was promoted to third after the controversial tangle with Marco Simoncelli and Dani Pedrosa.

And Lorenzo, who trails Stoner by 20-points with eight races of the 2011 campaign remaining, told MCN in an exclusive interview: “The performance of Valentino has surprised me a little bit.

“I thought he would be more in front, at least making podiums but at this moment he’s only made one podium and that was only because two riders in front of him crashed.

!I’m surprised with the performance of Valentino because sometimes riders like (Randy) de Puniet or (Karel) Abraham are sometimes faster than him.

“But I am also surprised about the performance Casey made in the last few years with the Ducati. I’m surprised that he was able to win races and fight for the title seeing all the other riders struggling so much with that bike. The man was Casey.”