Before even postponing the slightest statement from Valentino Rossi on the end of last season, the question arose for us as to whether it was really necessary to postpone them... Should we once again return, through interposed statements, to this end of the 2015 season? who has already spilled so much (too much) ink, at the risk of being accused of wanting to attract audiences at all costs? Was it not better to ignore the declarations of Pierre, Paul or Jacques on this subject, and only focus on the concrete news of what is happening on the track?
After careful consideration, we made the decision to translate Valentino Rossi's words, mainly for two reasons. First of all because they do not come from a dark Italian cabbage leaf, but are well filmed by the very serious British channel BT Sport, during an advance interview; It is therefore not a question of unfortunate words dropped in a small group, taken up and distorted by the tabloid press, but more probably of what Valentino Rossi really thinks, whether the latter prepared his statement or not.
The second reason is that this statement has just sparked a verbal reaction from Marc Marquez…
Here is our “raw” translation of the rest of the interview carried out by Suzi Perry by Valentino Rossi for BT Sport in Misano, of which you can find another excerpt here.
Would the 10th title be a dream?
“That’s the goal, yes. Because I deserve it, and especially, after last year, (where) they stole the championship from me, and so it's an extra motivation. »
You talk about last year, where you really thought this could be your championship. You say they stole the championship from you. Do you still think about this? Is it possible to run without thinking about it? Does it empower you or does it make you angry?
" It's interesting. Above all, it is very clear that they stole the championship, and in a very ugly way, in a way that no one expected. So it was very ugly. I had a very good season, with a lot of points, 320 points in the end. Nine times out of ten, with 300 points you win the championship. On the one hand, it was a very good and fantastic season for Lorenzo, who always responded to me, race after race, point after point. Amazing. Before the last three, he also deserved the championship, of course, because he had won two more races than me. But what happened in the last three (races) was incredible. Marquez's behavior was embarrassing and I think this also detracted from Lorenzo's championship. So for that reason, as you say, it's very important to take that... to take from that extra power, extra motivation, because the first reaction was anger, being nervous, making mistakes, and that also becomes more dangerous. Because you have something that has remained open with the other guys. But the difficulty is to transform this into a positive potential. »
And you think that has been the case this season?
" Yes. I think I won't win the championship this season because I made too many mistakes. For me, as I said, it was very difficult to get my concentration back to 100% after the end of last year, because the end of last year was very bad. As I said, if after a championship like that you lose, it's already bad, but if you lose in a normal way it's a story, but if you lose in the way I lost , it’s very difficult to move forward and turn the page.
But, you know, it’s not over…”
Photo credit : BT Sport
