Rossi pleased to silence critics

After winning the Jerez race, Rossi said that he had felt "a great will from many people for someone to beat me."

He expanded on those comments in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport - suggesting that the media had attempted to contrive tension between him and his younger rivals.

"There have been other times in my career when this has happened, for example when I moved from Honda to Yamaha," he was quoted as saying.

"But here, after the second place in Qatar, it almost looked like everyone was just waiting for me to lose, as confirmation of the start of a new era.

"It's something I felt stronger than in other occasions, also because when I read the papers on Saturday I realised many were hoping (Dani) Pedrosa and (Casey) Stoner would beat me in order to say that the young guys trouble me.

"That annoyed me, just like I'm sorry some controversy was fabricated with Daniel, with whom I want to battle only on the track, because that's how sport is supposed to be."

Rossi has admitted that he sees second year riders Stoner and Pedrosa as his main competition for the 2007 MotoGP title.

The duo, who are both seven years younger than Rossi, now share second place in the championship, nine points behind the Italian.