Melandri says Ducati a 'big hurdle'

The Italian rider has joined Ducati from the Gresini Honda team to ride alongside world champion Casey Stoner during the 2008 season.

Melandri has endured a difficult debut with his new team, however, failing to adapt to the bike and struggling to match the pace of his teammate.

"The Desmosedici represents a bigger hurdle than I had expected," Melandri was quoted as saying by Gazzetta dello Sport. "But I'm not looking at the laptimes, I'm just trying to adapt to the bike in the best possible way. Besides, winter testing has never been great for me.

"I'm very sensitive and I'm used to make just small changes at the time, while here every step is bigger. I'm riding stiff, I'm having trouble feeling the front: with the Honda I was used to have more weight at the front.

"I've tried to work on the weight distribution, now I'll have to work on the suspensions: the Ohlins fitted on the Ducati are very different from the Showa, and the feeling is strange.

"I'd like to change something (in the engine) but I don't know to what extent I'll be able to do it. It's tough to manage all this power.

"The truth is that, after having tried to adapt the bike to my style, maybe it's time for me to adapt to it, by looking at what Casey does, by learning to use the throttle in a different way, by studying the telemetry. The engineers seem to have understood what I need, thank goodness we'll be back on the bike immediately at Phillip Island."

Ducati team boss Livio Suppo believes it is just a matter of time before Melandri gets to grips with the bike, and he said the problems are not similar to those suffered by Loris Capirossi during last season.

"It's pointless to pretend there are no problems, but I absolutely don't think the situation is comparable (to Capirossi's). I'm ready to bet that it's just a matter of time, that Marco will reach the level of the best."

Stoner admitted there is not much he can do to help Melandri, as both riders have very different styles.

"Marco and I have talked, he has his problems, but we work in different directions and we both need to find our ways," said Stoner. "I'm concentrating on developing the bike and I don't think I'm able to give him advice: Loris in 2007 helped me but I had a different style so his advice was useless.

"It's the same with Marco, but he has the talent to understand and improve. Maybe he just needs some time, let's wait until the start of the season to pass judgement."