Until then everything was going perfectly in this Dutch Grand Prix for a constant and fast Valentino Rossi. Good tests, good qualifying and a first part of the race accomplished at a promising pace in the middle of crazy Ducati. Then there was the second departure.
A second contest where the top drivers fitted the soft Michelin rear tires, the same ones which had allowed Hernandez and Petrucci, in the first race, to get back to the lead in less time than it takes to say it . They were efficient, but the job is to be in front of someone who generally doesn't give up. The lottery feared by Marc Márquez after the tests in these conditions were launched.
And number 46, like many others, fell: “ it's a real shame because we were very fast and very competitive this weekend » comments on MotoGP.com a Doctor who records his third retirement in eight races. “ We could have finished a difficult weekend with important points for the Championship and we could have taken second place in the general classification from Lorenzo ».
A succession of “ifs” which says a lot about the disappointment of the Yamaha official who overshadowed Por Fuera who was completely absent from the debates.
But Vale makes no excuses: “ unfortunately I made a mistake. In the second part, I attacked too hard when I already had a good lead. On this lap, I was trying to push to assess my level. We had a soft rubber rain tire for the second race, it provided a lot of grip but I arrived too fast in turn 10 ».
« I think we had a good opportunity today but I made a mistake and missed a lot of points. The gap, especially with Márquez, is quite big now but we have to continue working like this and try to also be competitive next time ».
Valentino Rossi is still third in the championship but now regrets a deficit of 42 points on the now solid leader Marc Márquez.
