MotoGP: Marquez battle 'hard but fair' says Rossi

Valentino Rossi has described his titanic battle with Marc Marquez at today’s British Grand Prix as ‘hard but fair’ after the duo fought tooth and nail for the podium in the final stages of this afternoon’s race.

Both with similar pace, neither Rossi nor Marquez were going to give up their spot on the Silverstone podium easily leading to an epic battle between the pair which saw them touch on various occasions in Silverstone’s tight infield section.

MORE FROM THE BRITISH GP 2016

• Lowes: ‘I didn’t think I’d get chance to race in MotoGP’
• MotoGP: Viewing experience enhanced with new 360º camera
• MotoGP: Rossi continuing with 2017 chassis at Silverstone
• MotoGP: Petrucci crashes his father’s scooter prior to British GP
• Cavendish – ‘Crutchlow is just nuts now, not absolutely bat****’

However, despite the bad blood between them from 2015, Rossi believes the battle was hard but fair with each rider giving as good as they got.

Marquez was able to break Rossi towards the final laps, but a mistake from the Spaniard saw him drop back to fifth allowing Rossi to move back on to the rostrum.

“It was a great race with a great battle!” Rossi said after the race. “Lots of battles, actually! I enjoy a lot. I’m so happy about the podium as I had to fight from the first corner to the last. We were not so strong in the dry this weekend, we struggled with the tyres in the second half of the race so the fact it was like this was great. We had a great battle with Marquez, Crutchlow and Iannone.

“It was a great battle with Marquez, we touched two or three times! It was hard, yes, but it was fair and I really enjoyed it. When you fight at the end for a podium, especially with Marquez, it is always difficult. I can’t wait to watch the TV!”

Looking for the perfect two-wheeled companion? Visit MCN Bikes For Sale website or use MCN’s Bikes For Sale App.