As always, very interesting comments from Valentino Rossi in Qatar tonight. "Lorenzo said tyres dangerous and Open bikes have too much of an advantage – agree?
“It looks like the modify to the rules to create more problems for the factory Yamaha and Honda has worked (laughs). But we are in trouble. We suffer a lot with the new tyre of Bridgestone and for us the grip on the edge is not enough and the bike becomes difficult to ride. And on 20 litres, sincerely the bike is very slow. On the straight nothing happens and it is a bad feeling. I am worried about this for the race because we are very at the limit. The number one favourite for the victory will be Espargaro because he is the only one able to go fast, also with the hard tyre, which is our soft and I think everybody will race with the same tyre. After Espargaro, Dovizioso and Iannone are very fast with the extra soft but after when they put in our tyre we have eight or nine riders that have exactly the same pace. The Ducati is also very good with our tyre but also Marquez, Pedrosa, Lorenzo, me and Bradl can all fight for the podium. What I am not happy about today is Lorenzo is better than me with the new tyre because on the rhythm I am a bit faster than him.”

With fuel consumption, can you clearly feel bike loses performance?
“In this track it is a bad feeling from the bike. It is very slow and very difficult to ride with the engine braking and acceleration. But especially with the long gear the bike doesn’t push. It is a long, long time that I tried a bike so slow. Now with 20 litres the engine goes with air.”

What will fans think when they see 10th, Marquez 5th and Lorenzo 7th
“It is a little bit like in F1 where the top guys are struggling very much. But we need to wait for Sunday. If the race will be funny maybe it is the right way, but who pays the most are the four riders that arrive in front last year. Yamaha and Honda pay very much with the new rules.”

Fans could get some great battles in early laps
“On paper yes because looking at the sheets there is more confusion because everybody has the same rhythm. The Ducati is very strong even with the hard tyre and the bike improves a lot with 24 litres. And Espargaro is very impressive. He rides very well, he is in a great shape, very confident and maybe the 24 litres is not just a big help in the straight but also in the corner with engine braking and opening the throttle. The bike is easier to ride but he deserves it because he is f***ing fast.”

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