Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128329
his was a race abo ut tires . Tire size, tire abuse , tire life . Whoever's tires worked the best would win. Whoever's tires lastedthe longest wouldwin. On a sun-scorched day in Montmelo, just north of Barcelona, Spain, and in front of 102,30 I rabid Spanish fans, it wou ld be the same person - Gauloises Fo rtuna Yamaha's Valentino Rossi. A week after a surprise win on the fast Mugello circuit, the impish Italian once again pulled out an improbable victory on a track where the less powerful Yamaha should not have shone . Not only did Rossi beat Telefonica MoviStar Honda's Sete Gibemau, by . 159 of a second, but fellowYamaha rider Marco Melandri was third, giving Yamaha two on the podium for the first time in the fourstroke era and for the firsttime since Riode Janeiro in 200 I. It also made Meland'; the youngest rider ever on a MotoGP podium, T 18 at 2 1years, 10 months, 6 days, younger still than Nicky Hayden when he first made a podium last year at Motegi. The win in Spain came a week after another w in on a fast race track - the Mugello Circuit in Italy. The fact wasn't lost on Rossi. "Win Mugello and here, two in a row with this bike , the straights are very, very long, and Honda has a little bit more power," he said after an elaborate postrace tracks ide pantomime that involved donning a doctor's coat and checking the MI with a stethoscope. "It means we make a great job all together. Also the other Mis are in front , and for this I'm very, very happy." Rossi's second win in a row, and third of the season, cut Gibernau's championship lead in half. With five of 16 races run , he's only five points behind, 106-10 I. Camel Honda's Max Biaggi, a dispirited JUNE 23, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS eighth today wit h a defective rear Michelin, is third at 80 points. Michelin built a new, wider tire for the Yamaha at the beginning of the year, with an update at the first race in Welkom. The profile suits the Y amahas much better than the Ho ndas, a fact not lost on Gibernau. "Basically I think that since we got here, I was always saying the fact that the Yamahas were having a lot of traction and the Hondas we re struggling a lot with traction," Gibernau said. ':And to be able to be on the same level of traction with the Yamahas, all the Hondas we have to put on a soft tire . And that for sure has been the clue of the whole race. You can see at the end of the race that the Yamahas are not so bad." Melandri said his first podium had been a long time coming. " It's a great day for me today," the 40th Anniversary Italian said. "I was waiting this day since o ne year and a half about." Fourth was yet another Yamaha, this one under Spaniard Carlos Checa. "I passed many riders dur ing the race, and for me this is proof that I cou ld do well after what happened in Mugello [wh ere Checa crashed]," he said. " I had much more confidence in the front braking today, so it was easier to pass people." Fifth place and best American honors went to Telefonica MoviStar Honda's Colin Edwards. His race was never going to be easy, not after qualifying on the fourth row of the grid. After losingtime in the scrum of the early laps, he made his way forward , taking advantage of attrition and a narrower rear rim to record his best MotoGP finish . "It went 6.25 to 6 [inches], but it doesn't matter because what you gain fro m being able to tum the thing, you lose in