Cycle News

IN THE WIND P20 ROSSI'S PRESS CONFERENCE ATTACK V alentino Rossi had started the weekend by raising the bar before the Malaysian GP—off-track—in a way he has struggled to do in the races. This bar relates to hostility between riders, and the old master's target was not his title rival Jorge Lorenzo, but, to the surprise of all, Marc Mar- quez, whom he accused of trying to help Lorenzo, for reasons of personal revenge. It started at the press confer- ence, and at first seemed like a joke, when he said that after studying the previous round Australian GP on television he now understood what had baffled him in the race, that Marquez slowed down to involve himself with Rossi and Iannone; to help Lorenzo gain a gap. Marquez contradicted the claim, repeating his post-race as- sertion that he had slowed to let his tire cool, and adding that if he had been supporting his fellow- Spaniard, he would hardly have taken huge risks to consign him to second in a blazing last lap. Even Lorenzo thought he was jesting, commenting facetiously that certainly Marquez had helped him, "especially on the last lap." But Rossi meant it, and made his feelings clear to his fellow Italian journalists in a post- conference huddle, backing up his assertions with an annotated time-sheet pointing out exactly which laps he was talking about. "He knew I was losing out to the Ducati on the straight. And so every time I tried to pass him, he re-overtook me (super- aggressive, but that's the way it is). But then he slowed to create a gap to Jorge." The reason was personal, he said, born of a growing animosity going back to Argen- tina where Marquez blamed Rossi for having crashed; boosted by the last-corner clash at Assen, where Rossi won, and fed further by a desire to prevent him from adding a 10th title, thus making his record an easier target. Rossi described Mar- quez as childish, and said he'd preferred the open hostility with Max Biaggi. "We were obnoxious to each other, but at least we were hon- est." The spat had paddock insid- ers and social media in a frenzy. Was it just a sign of stress, sleepless nights, and a grow- ing desperation from an ag- ing rider? Was it part of some typically Machiavellian form of psychological warfare intended to boost his title chances? And why had Rossi not bothered to accuse Pedrosa of trying to help Jorge when the former beat Rossi to second at Aragon? And at least one sage pointed out that the last time Rossi had fought for a title that got anywhere near the last race, in 2006, he had lost to Nicky Hayden by crashing at the final shootout. Michael Scott until after the race because he wanted to be able to review all video footage thoroughly, and to hear from each rider. Valentino's final move, howev- er, did break the rules, because it was "irresponsible riding caus- ing a crash". Penalties in general are at the discretion of race direction, and are taken case by case—an approach that inevitably seems inconsistent and to some riders unfair. "The rules should be more like Formula One, where everybody knows exactly what penalties are," said Pedrosa. Michael Scott Marc Marquez (in background) was just as surprised as anyone when Valentino Rossi launched his attack.

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