MotoGP: Rossi draws Pedrosa’s post-race fury

Valentino Rossi might have received praise for many of his rivals in Sunday’s Motorland Aragon round of the 2017 MotoGP championship for his incredible recovery after riding to an impressive fifth place only 24 days after breaking his leg – but he also drew anger from rival Dani Pedrosa after Sunday’s duel.

The Repsol Honda rider accused Rossi after the race of dangerously trying to shut the door on him on Motorland Aragon’s long back straight at top speed while the Spaniard was trying to make a slipstreaming overtake on the Italian.

“I cannot judge what he saw, but you know when you’re getting overtaken – and when you’re alongside someone you try to give them room. I was on the white line, the handlebars were inches apart and we were at 180mph. You don’t need to force the issue at that speed, because the margin for error is very small.”

However, Rossi was quick to launch his own attack on Pedrosa afterwards, saying that he hadn’t treated him any differently from how Rossi was treated by other riders during Sunday’s race.

“If he isn’t happy then maybe he should race alone, because everyone else did the same to me. Exiting that corner you always go to the left, and that was all I did. Maybe some of these riders think that they own the track…”