Valentino Rossi looks to match Spaniard's speed

Valentino Rossi has conceded Spanish duo Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo are simply too good for him at the moment.

The Italian finished in a distant third place in Misano last weekend but was once again easily outpaced by in-form Repsol Honda rider Pedrosa and Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo.

And the 31-year-old said: “I was very happy because I felt good and it was the best race since I came back from my broken right leg. A third place is good but especially the way it arrived and at the end I started to ride well.

“Now Lorenzo and Pedrosa and faster than me and they are in a better shape. That’s why they are first and second but I came close. But I need to be much faster to beat them.”

Rossi has only won once in 2010 when he took victory in the season’s opening race in Qatar.

His hopes of a third successive title though were ended when he broke his right leg in a big practice crash at the Mugello circuit in Italy back in early June.