Valentino Rossi to start from last position in Valencia GP

“We were always behind and then in the last race, it all went perfectly”.

And after losing out on a 10th world title Rossi railed to Marca: “Incredible work by Honda eh?
”I knew it would be like that and so it was in the end.”
He accused Marquez of turning into “Lorenzo’s bodyguard”.
”It has never happened in sport and it has been embarrassing for our sport”, he said”.

Marquez – who is embroiled in a long-running spat with Rossi – had already denied protecting Lorenzo in the deciding race, but Rossi said the 2013/14 champion had tarnished the season.

Rossi entered the race with an advantage of seven points over Lorenzo and powered his way through the field to finish fourth, missing out on a tenth world crown by five points.

Rossi was furious with Marquez after the race, claiming that the Spanish rider went out of his way to prevent the Italian from winning the title.

The Italian finished 19.7 seconds behind the victor, who beat Marquez by a mere 0.2. The Malaga born rider had taken a typically formidable pole position, and quickly settled into the pacey, efficient style that has seen him win so many victories throughout his career.

Spanish media have compared Rossi’s actions to those of Italian defender Mauro Tassotti who elbowed Spain’s Luis Enrique in the face in an infamous incident in the quarter-finals of the 1994 World Cup.

“It is something that nobody expects, because a Honda rider that made a Yamaha rider win and gave the maximum just to push out his team-mate is something that nobody expects and I think it is very, very bad news”.

Rossi had previously made accusations against Marquez in Australia of assisting Lorenzo, with the season finale overshadowed by controversy that officials had warned was poisoning the atmosphere.

“For the first 20 laps it was really tricky to follow him but I was only one second behind him”.

Rossi will practically have an extra practice session during qualifying today, but said he will most likely stick to his normal routine on race weekend.

He kept Lorenzo within his sights and with nine to go had closed right up on the race leader’s rear tyre.

Nakamoto said Marquez had planned to attack Lorenzo on the last lap but a late move by Pedrosa thwarted that. Smith won’t be too downhearted though as he was down in 14th after Friday’s practice at Sepang, but recovered to finish fourth in the race.

There was at least one happy, uncontroversial end to the season in the Moto3 category, with Danny Kent becoming the first British motorcycling champion since Barry Sheene in 1977.

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

“It was my best lap ever and I couldn’t believe it when I saw the time”, Lorenzo said.