MotoGP 2014 Round 5 - Monster Energy Grand Prix de France

JohnnyKnockdown said:

Rossi was on a clear track, on a FACTORY bike while Marquez was eight spots behind him. Marquez reeled him in by 1/2 race distance. With a FACTORY bike a legitimate FACTORY rider should have checked out.

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You apparently don't realize how far down the Yamaha has slipped from the Honda. Rossi wasn't checking out that was an impossibility regardless of VR running wide. Rossi stated at the beginning of the year this is one of the slowest Motogp bikes he's ridden. And with the motor development freeze nothing is going to change. My prediction.....the worst year of racing in a long time. MM just might win every race. He can thank Dorna for that

pengilly said:

e. Rossi stated at the beginning of the year this is one of the slowest Motogp bikes he's ridden.

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He is, as usual, talking ..... The 500s, 990s and Ducatis he's ridden were all way slower than the 2014 M1. In absolute lap time terms it's roughly the same as the 2008-9 M1 he won WCs on. Obviously times from the SNS era aren't comparable.

I dont know which quote is being referenced, but in terms of relatively speaking, this is one of the least competitive bike 'relative to the title contending ones' (of which there are 4) he has ridden. VR has almost never been on a machine thats wasn't superior or near equal to the contending machines (exception his Ducati stint). So I can se why he might have said something to this effect.