Michelin blames Yamaha for Motegi issue

Rossi was set to finish ahead of Casey Stoner and prolong the title contest for another round until he made an additional pit stop after believing he had a tyre problem.

"The first impression was like the tyre was flat, so I stopped, but I restarted and after four laps I had temperature from the tyre but already my race was over," Rossi said after the race. "The tyre was normal, but it was like it didn't work, it was too cold."

But Michelin's motorcycle tyre manager Jean-Philippe Weber said the issue was down to Yamaha's use of the tyre rather than a fault with the design.

"When I read the Yamaha press release, in which we were being accused for Valentino's problem, I couldn't believe it," Weber was quoted as saying by Gazzetta dello Sport.

"What happened? I can say that the tyre blankets on Rossi's bike were put on and taken off three times, so the temperature obviously had a drop.

"Then the pitlane was still wet when Rossi rejoined the track, and this contributed too.

"And lastly, I think the set-up was too stiff, and we had warned the team about it."

Speaking after yesterday's post-race test, Rossi acknowledged that Yamaha now believed the problem was caused by a lack of tyre temperature.

"It seems that the problem was the temperature; when I re-entered the track after the change the pitlane was still wet and the temperature of the front tyre dropped drastically," he said.

"That's why Colin (Edwards) and I could not ride the bike in the very first laps; we both had the same problem."