Valentino Rossi says Mugello MotoGP retirement hurt more than most
Valentino Rossi said his engine blow-up while fighting for Italian Grand Prix victory hurt more than most mechanical failures as it cost him a "dream" Mugello MotoGP win
The seven-time series champion was famously unbeatable at Mugello from 2002-08, but has not won there since.
Urged on by a massive and vociferous home crowd, he took his first Italian GP pole since 2008 on Saturday but had to retire from the race with the engine failure when challenging Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo for the lead.
"What do we have to say? It's difficult to say something," Rossi reflected.
"It's a great shame, it's always a great shame when you have a technical failure in the race.
"But this time was more because we are at Mugello and have a fantastic atmosphere with a lot of fans and especially because I was very strong for the weekend, but especially today in the race, I felt good on the bike, I was very fast.
"So for sure I could fight for the victory at Mugello.
"That was one of my... more than targets, one of my dreams in the last 10 years because the last victory was 2008."
Lorenzo went on to take victory by 0.019 seconds over Marquez in a photo finish.
Having been right on his team-mate's tail before his failure, Rossi was certain this was a win lost.
"I felt better with the bike with the setting today," he said.
"In the race I was very fast. I was behind Lorenzo but essentially I think I had a little bit better pace compared to him.
"So for sure I could try to attack and try to make my race."
Both factory Yamahas suffered engine failures on Sunday, with Lorenzo's having occurred in the morning warm-up, while Rossi reported his unit started to seize on lap six, three before he stopped.
The team is still investigating the cause, and Rossi said there had been no time between the warm-up and race to ascertain whether Lorenzo's problem had implications for his engine too.
"We were a little bit worried because usually it doesn't happen," Rossi said.
"Our engine had less kilometres than Jorge's.
"The time was too tight to open the engine and try to understand what happened, so we continued with our own engine and we were unlucky."
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