Joined Oct 2007
4K Posts | 744+
Tuscany, Italy
Rossi has been training this winter like he never did before, and adopted healthier habits in general. He's always been lazy, getting out of bed before 3 pm only on race weekends; always loved his drinks and parties and staying up all night, but the times he could do that and rely only on his talent to beat opponents on Sundays are gone. Last year he saw that being back on an M1 wasn't enough to stay with the younger guys. At 35 you got to train much, much harder and go to bed much earlier. So he has committed himself to all the necessary hard work and discipline, going to the gym every day and to the dirt track every other day, where he has been racing Pasini, Fenati, his half-brother Luca and others all winter, consistently beating them. This unprecedented effort shows his determination to be at the top again before retiring.
But there's no way he can change his birth date. He'll do better than last year, because he has never lost his talent and today he's a better athlete than ever in his life. His final position will depend much on his young opponents luck (and his own of course). But qualifying is going to remain a nagging problem for him, because those fast kids in their 20's do have the extra something worth 2 or 3 tenths on a single lap, enough to make him start from 3rd row. He'll do better than last year, no doubt about it -- but Marquez is stronger and on a slightly better bike, (a certain difference in acceleration especially out of corner 10 was visible). Lorenzo is on the same bike and faster most of the time, his only problem is he's a bit nervous and that showed at Qatar, he shouldn't have tried too hard in the first laps. Pedrosa is... Pedrosa. There are no other challengers for the title.
But there's no way he can change his birth date. He'll do better than last year, because he has never lost his talent and today he's a better athlete than ever in his life. His final position will depend much on his young opponents luck (and his own of course). But qualifying is going to remain a nagging problem for him, because those fast kids in their 20's do have the extra something worth 2 or 3 tenths on a single lap, enough to make him start from 3rd row. He'll do better than last year, no doubt about it -- but Marquez is stronger and on a slightly better bike, (a certain difference in acceleration especially out of corner 10 was visible). Lorenzo is on the same bike and faster most of the time, his only problem is he's a bit nervous and that showed at Qatar, he shouldn't have tried too hard in the first laps. Pedrosa is... Pedrosa. There are no other challengers for the title.
