Knowing he would suffer but saying he’d try, an injured Valentino Rossi had already stunned on Saturday at MotorLand to get on the front row – and then came home in the top five on race day.
Not only that, the Italian was able to close on the lead and battle both Repsol Honda riders Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa, as well as teammate Maverick Viñales – with that getting pretty close in the latter stages.
Over the line, the nine-time World Champion was only half a second off his teammate, 24 days after breaking his tibia and fibula.
“I’m quite proud, very happy and satisfied because until a week ago I didn’t know if I was going to be able to race.” Said the Italian “It was a great weekend and I improved day by day, and started from the front row.”
“We knew it was going to be difficult, and I didn’t manage to have a great race because I was able to fight for first but then couldn’t keep it up.”
“I knew I had to suffer in the second half of the race. I had some pain and we also suffered from the degradation of the tyre. The work continues after this race. At the end, over the final laps I was a bit tired and my leg was causing some pain.” Added Rossi
“I tried to avoid throwing in the towel and tried to finish the race in the top five. Now the calendar works out well for me, I have two full weeks to train and improve my leg‘s condition.”
“After this we have Motegi, which is going to be very important, but we also have three races in a row. I hope to arrive in Motegi if not at 100%, then fit enough.”
