MotoGP: Valentino Rossi slams Marc Marquez after title loss in Spain

Born on May 4, 1987, Lorenzo made his championship debut when he was just 15 during the 2004 125cc Spanish Grand Prix and dominated the 2007 250cc World Championship.

Rossi, already a seven-time premier category champion, was penalised for kicking defending champion Marc Marquez off his bike at the Malaysian Grand Prix last time out.

Rossi came out but fighting in his vain pursuit of Lorenzo, who had the telling edge and was able to dictate terms, leading throughout the demanding 30 laps and powering in highly consistent times that kept him just ahead of the Repsol Honda duo Marquez and Dani Pedrosa. Whatever your take on the Malaysia incident, the fact was that Lorenzo’s stunning lap put him at the front of the Valencia grid while Rossi’s moment of madness ensured he was right at the back.

Lorenzo led from start to finish with Marquez giving chase, but it was Dani Pedrosa on the second of the factory Hondas who looked set to pose the biggest threat at the end as he bridged a gap of two seconds to close in on the leaders.

Valentino Rossi launched a scathing attack on Marc Marquez, accusing the Spaniard of deliberately sabotaging his hopes of MotoGP world title glory.

The race itself was far more tame, with Lorenzo leading from start to finish.

Pole-sitter Jorge Lorenzo says he can not afford to ignore the threat of Valentino Rossi in the MotoGP title deciding Valencia finale. If Lorenzo is third, Rossi must finish sixth or better.

Suddenly the atmosphere changed as the possible outcome of the race became wide open again, however Lorenzo remained unshaken.

Rossi said Marquez was protecting Lorenzo. “It would be better if he were humble in victory and dignified in defeat, like another great champion who is leaving the sport this weekend, Nicky Hayden, who will be greatly missed”.

“Valentino is a great champion and clearly an intelligent individual so we truly hope that in time, once the dust settles, he can reevaluate what has happened and accept this was another great race from a wonderful season”. “I used that to pass him back but Jorge had escaped by half a second making it impossible to recover the gap, even though I rode the last lap and the entire race at 100%”.

It all adds spice to this classic title showdown which hopefully will be preceeded by Chippenham’s Danny Kent scoring the two points he needs to second the World Moto3 crown.

“My dream was to fight for the championship and after a very good season I can fight”, he said.

He accused Marquez of being a “biscottone” – an expression used in football when two teams play out a mutually beneficial draw to the detriment of another – but said he expected no less. Marquez and Pedrosa struggled with the front during the early portion of the race and Lorenzo faced heavy rear wear after his initial push to build an advantage.