MotoGP: Rossi ‘we have a problem for the title’

Valentino Rossi has admitted that he now has a ‘problem’ in his battle for a record-breaking tenth title after Sunday saw him walk away from the Dutch TT at Assen with no points after a crash in treacherous conditions.

Looking like the clear favourite as he pulled away from the chasing pack in the second part of the red-flagged race, the Doctor was instead left lamenting what could have been after falling from the lead.

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And in doing so he handed a huge 42-point advantage to rival Marc Marquez, a lead that he admits is going to take a lot of work to pull back at this point.

“We could have won, because we had an advantage, and it was important to take some points for the championship. We could have gained some points over Lorenzo while he was struggling, and now it’s going to be more difficult because the gap to Marquez is so big.

“I think that one zero – my mistake in Austin – you can put in account, but this one is a problem for the championship, especially if you add the zero in Mugello with the engine blowing up. But it’s not finished until it’s finished, and it’s a very long and fast year. We just need to try our best now at every race track, try to be competitive every weekend, and we’ll see what happens!”

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