ROAD RACE
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 18 / NOVEMBER 13, 2016
CIRCUITO DE LA COMUNITAT VALENCIANA / VALENCIA, SPAIN
P62
reputation. None of it showed.
Every time Rossi passed him, he
would attack him back directly,
and if that failed there was al-
ways the surge of Ducati power
down the front straight to reverse
the situation.
On the third-to-last lap, the
fight was resolved. Rossi pushed
past in the twists over the hill;
Iannone pushed straight back
and they touched, pushing Rossi
He hadn't expected to win,
he added, "because already
Marquez was strong. But now I
can sleep deep, because I had a
perfect end with Yamaha."
No less remarkable was the
battle for third, between Iannone
and Rossi. The Ducati rider, in
only his second race back from
spinal injury, was suffering pain
and "a lack of energy," not to
mention his usual crash-happy
But how about Lorenzo? Was
he playing it cool, under control?
Far from it, he said. He'd been
worried about his rear tire's grip,
especially on the crucial last two
left-handers, the first of them
taken in a full slide. The worry
was redoubled when his pit
board told him his lead had gone
from five seconds to 4.5, "and it
was Marquez behind. I suffered
a lot in the last 10 laps."
