Valentino Rossi has assessed Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin’s showdown for the MotoGP title today.
Bagnaia has a 14-point advantage over Bagnaia heading into Sunday’s Valencia MotoGP.
Rossi, who has twice entered a final round leading a championship but who lost out on both occasions, told Sky: “Fourteen points are an important advantage in a race.
“But it’s also the last one and it’s tough. [Pecco is] all in.
“I certainly would have preferred to have a 14-point advantage than a disadvantage.
“It must be said that Pecco will start second, he can start well, hoping he makes the right tyre choice.”
Last year Bagnaia became the first VR46 Academy graduate to win the MotoGP title.
Rossi said about Bagnaia this season: “He seems calmer to me than last year, because he has already experienced all this and experience always helps.
“[Friday] night we spoke and [Saturday] he gave everything he had and what we had thought of. [Saturday night] will be more tough but it won’t be easy for Martin either.”
Martin won Saturday’s sprint, Bagnaia finished fifth, to reduce the deficit from 21 to 14 points.
Rossi assessed the sprint race: “We also asked ourselves why Bagnaia hadn’t copied Martin’s tyres.
“If it was the right choice it would have been for both of them, ditto if it had been wrong.
“But Pecco felt good with the medium in the morning, Bezzecchi and Marini also started with the medium, it seemed that the two tyres were similar from the data.
“And instead in the race the soft made the difference.”
Rossi assessed the chasing Pramac challenger: “Martin is playing everything, he is ready to do anything to win the World Championship, like marking Pecco on Friday…
“But Bagnaia [on Saturday] was perfect from the first lap, he overturned everything and there was also the dream of closing it already in the sprint, but it didn’t go that way.”
Rossi added about Martin: “It was immediately clear that he was one of the strong ones in MotoGP.
“There were doubts about his physique, he had had bad injuries, but since Pecco crashed in Barcelona Martin has put the march.
“He understood that it could be his chance. “There were 66 points behind and the World Championship was almost over, but from there Martin said ‘this is the chance, I’ll try’.”
Seven-time MotoGP champion Rossi’s appearance in the Valencia paddock adds an extra layer of excitement to the final round.
He joked about his role as a retired rider: “In the meantime I take a lot of photos with the fans!
“Then I try to help our riders but I also live it from the heart.
“It’s nice to see it from the outside, on the grid.
“It’s always a great atmosphere, there’s the tension of the race but in the end it’s not me who’s racing.”
Keyword: Valentino Rossi’s fascinating breakdown of today’s MotoGP title showdown