“Rossi not fading”, claims Lorenzo
Added on Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 by Carole Nash Editor
“Rossi not fading”, claims Lorenzo
Jorge Lorenzo has dismissed suggestions that former World Champion Valentino Rossi is past his prime, claiming that his former teammate is still as strong as ever.
Lorenzo, a former teammate of Rossi’s at Yamaha, has claimed that the 33-year-old’s abilities are not on the wane, despite his poor results in 2011. Instead, the Spaniard believes that age is no barrier to success in motorcycle racing.
“There’s no age limit,” Lorenzo told Gazzetta dello Sport. “[Carlos] Checa at 39 in superbikes is in his top form. Valentino is 33, he hasn’t weakened.”
Lorenzo suggested that Rossi’s problem was not that his talent was fading, but that MotoGP was now so competitive it was harder to pull off good results on a difficult bike than it had been in the past.
“Today in MotoGP there are many strong riders,” Lorenzo said. “To win you need a great feeling with your bike.”
The Spaniard thinks Ducati faces a tough task to close the gap on Honda and Yamaha in 2012, but sees no reason why it cannot eventually rediscover title-winning form.
“It’s an unknown quantity,” said Lorenzo of Ducati. “It won’t be easy to reach Yamaha and Honda, but Ducati beat them in the past. It’s a small factory but with a lot of technology and a great rider in Valentino.”
