Valentino Rossi was never under any illusions that he would have it easy in his defense of the MotoGP world title, and once again the Italian was made to fight for glory at the Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland. The Fiat Yamaha rider took the win at Sachsenring by just the smallest of margins from persistent rival Jorge Lorenzo in a breathtaking race to extend his lead in the World Championship. MotoGP.com
The defending champion won by half a bike length over his young team-mate to extend his championship points lead to 14 as he made it 101 wins in grands prix.
Rossi has been under pressure from his team-mate in recent races as the Spaniard looks to add to his value during contract negotiations.
The race had been led in the early stages by both Rossi and Ducati Marlboro rider Casey Stoner but the closing stages were left to the two Yamaha team-mates to battle it out.
Stoner even had to give up his hopes of finishing third as the Australian’s Ducati suffered tyre problems and Dani Pedrosa took the final podium spot for Repsol Honda. The Press Association
“On this track it’s difficult to overtake and I didn’t make any mistakes in the final lap,” Rossi said. “I went full throttle downhill and braked too deep for Lorenzo to overtake me.”
Lorenzo said he didn’t realize they were on the last lap.
“I didn’t try everything because I thought there were more laps to go,” said the Spaniard, who was racing with a broken bone in his foot. USA Today
Alex de Angelis and Toni Elías had a successful salvage operation for the San Carlo Honda Gresini team, placing fifth and sixth, respectively. Elías was particularly impressive, having started from last place.
The only retirees from the race were Randy de Puniet -who crashed on the opening lap- and Andrea Dovizioso. The latter fell victim to excessive front tyre wear and was forced to call it a day before the end of the 30-lap Grand Prix. MotoGP.com
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