MotoGP: Rossi racing for the feeling of victory

Valentino Rossi has admitted that the feeling of success is what keeps him motivated to race, after taking an incredible victory in yesterday’s Dutch TT at Assen, breaking a year-long drought of wins and catapulting himself right back into title contention.

The nine-time world champion controlled the pace of the race as he diced first with Johann Zarco and the with friend and countryman Danilo Petrucci – but was able to set himself up perfectly for success at the flag.

“I‘m so happy, and for different reasons, because it‘s a very important victory for the championship, but especially the feeling of coming back to the number one spot after one year is fantastic. Sincerely, I race with motorcycles for this feeling: for what I feel in the five or six final laps of the race.

“That‘s always great and especially after a year without a victory. It was a great race and a great battle with Petrucci and everybody else. I‘m also happy from a technical point of view, because we worked a lot on the bike and we changed the chassis and now I feel like I can ride the bike more in my own manner, in a better way.”

And, now only seven points off new championship leader Andrea Dovizioso, he admits that everything is still to play for as they go straight into the fourth race in two weeks at Sachsenring.

“Everything is open and this year we discovered that, from one track to the other, the situation can change a lot. We have to wait for next week and try to be competitive also at the Sachsenring.”