As usual, in order to avoid any abusive journalistic interpretation, we now offer you a “raw” translation of the entirety of the words of Valentino Rossi.

4th in Austria after starting from the front row is decent but you probably hoped for better…

“Yes, it seems like this year is a bit of the opposite of last year. I'm more competitive in qualifying, I qualify well and I got a lot of front rows there, but I have more problems in the race.
In the end, the race was not so bad in Austria, because I was rather fast, rather consistent, and in particular we did not concede a big distance compared to the two Ducatis who were a little faster. But I wasn't able to get on the podium because Lorenzo was faster than me; we came very close but I was never able to fight for the podium, which was our goal. So we have to try again here.
On paper, it's a good circuit for the Yamahas, but no one knows anything about it, because we come here with the Michelins; It's like starting from scratch. Afterwards, we need to know the speed and level of the two Ducatis. I think they can be competitive here because it's a very fast track, but there are also a lot of corners. But also the speed of the Hondas, in particular Marc but also Pedrosa who is always very strong in Brno, so... all the top guys are in good condition. »

It’s a very special circuit…

“Yes, it's a superb track that I really like, and it's the place of my first victory, which is something unforgettable, as well as the place of many important results in my career, but during In recent years, it hasn't been the best. I couldn't be on top, be fast, especially against Marquez and Lorenzo, so that's the goal for this week; try to be a little faster and fight with them. »

This season, will the champion be the one with the most victories or the one with the fewest defeats? And what role will the Ducati have in the fight between Marc, Jorge and you?

“It's still very long because there are eight races left, and as they said (Marquez and Lorenzo) you have at the moment seven drivers who are very strong and who can fight for victory. So it varies enormously from one track to another and (you have to) try to always be competitive, to always be at the top. Of course, it's a shame for us that we already have this handicap compared to Marc, because we made some mistakes and we were also a little unlucky. So we have good potential but we are quite far away, so we need to do something more at the moment, and we need to go fast while still taking points. But in particular we have to approach (the rest) race after race, and try to do the maximum, because I think there will always be good fights from here, and until the end. »

You were there 20 years ago; where will you be in 20 years?

" I don't know. Twenty years is a very long time and I am very happy, very proud, to be here and to try to give my best to stay on top. It's fantastic! And you know, in 20 years I will be very old (laughs) so I hope to still race with something, of course not in MotoGP, but maybe with cars, safer, slower. »

What do you think about doping controls? Are there enough or not enough?

“Yes, for me it’s good, it’s something to be on the same level as all sports. I think that, fortunately, the past shows that doping is not very significant in motorcycling sport. I don't know if anyone has had problems in the past, but fortunately for us there is nothing we can do to improve our motorcycle performance, and that's good. But it's also good and correct to have these controls to be at the same level as other sports. »

Do you think the Ducati will be able to fight for victory here?

“Yes, I think this race is very important for Ducati, because everyone expected the Ducatis to be very competitive in Austria because they are very fast in acceleration and on the straights, but us with the Hondas and the Yamahas, we were hoping that they would have some problems with the tires during the race and that we would have an advantage with these 28 laps. But in the end, the Ducati were also the best bikes in terms of tires last week. So for this reason they can be fast in all races and this is more of a problem for us. Here, it is a circuit where we will be able to know better, because the engine is very important but there are also a lot of corners. But I think they can be competitive and fight with us. »