Gauloises TT Assen
ROSSI MAKES HISTORY AS GAULOISES YAMAHA CELEBRATE
PODIUM DOUBLE
Valentino Rossi became the first Yamaha rider ever to win
five consecutive premier-class races after another authoritarian
performance in the 75th anniversary Gauloises Dutch TT, where
he was joined on the podium by his Gauloises Yamaha team-mate
Colin Edwards. Rossi did not get the best of starts from pole
position but worked his way up from fifth after the first
lap to take the lead by the midway stage, taking over from
Marco Melandri (Honda) on lap ten and gradually opening out
a crucial advantage. Edwards followed his team-mate through
the opening few laps to make up some important positions from
sixth on the grid, quickly settling into the excellent race
pace he had found during practice and finally getting the
opportunity to impose it on the front group. One lap after
seeing Rossi take the lead, Edwards passed Sete Gibernau (Honda)
for third place and did everything he could to catch Melandri
for second, before deciding to settle for a podium finish.
As Melandri escaped from the American he also began to close
the gap on his Italian compatriot at the front, but a stunning
final lap of 2’00.991 from Rossi was the fastest of
the race and sealed the win by 1.583 seconds.
VALENTINO ROSSI (1st; 38’41.808)
“Today was another hard battle, as it has been every
race this season. At the start the grip was tricky because
of the rain this morning and I lost some places and had to
overtake Loris and Nakano to arrive behind the three Hondas.
I knew I could go a bit faster and after I passed them all
I made some good laps and it became easier to ride on the
limit, as there was less fuel. Melandri was very strong today
and he came back to fight until the end. I had to keep pushing
at 100% and really concentrate, especially on the last lap,
when I made no mistakes and the fastest lap of the race. It
was incredible for everybody. My bike worked perfectly again,
so thank you to Yamaha and my team for all the brilliant work
they’ve done, and to Michelin because the tyres were
really good. We have a great atmosphere in our team and this
makes it very easy to relax and give 100% every time. It’s
a pleasure to try to win together. I can’t believe that
I am the first Yamaha rider to win five races in a row, when
you look at the company I am in with Yamaha’s former
World Champions – Agostini, Lawson, Roberts and Rainey,
it’s great.”
COLIN EDWARDS (3rd; + 7.643)
“Of course it could still have been better, but it
was a good race. We made a breakthrough with the bike set-up
this week and it just felt really good, better than it’s
felt all season I think. I had a bad start, then I saw Valentino
and realised his wasn’t great either! The first corner
I passed a couple and then on the back straight it was chaos
with everyone trying to pass anywhere! I tried to follow Valentino
through the traffic, then I got stuck behind Gibernau for
a bit when he started to slow down. I got some time back when
Marco made his big mistake and I saw red and really pushed
hard to catch him! With four laps to go I was on the limit
and lost the front really badly at turn two. When exactly
the same thing happened on the next lap I decided it was safer
to take it easy, get home on two wheels and make it onto the
podium. I want to say a big thank you to my team and my Crew
Chief Daniele Romagnoli, they’ve worked hard to find
the right way forward and now I am going to Laguna in great
shape.”
DAVIDE BRIVIO
“It was a very good day and once again both riders
are on the podium with Valentino taking victory. Every race
is different and this time it was a great fight with Melandri
and with Colin also in the fighting group. It was very exciting
to watch such good racing. This also shows the big progress
that Yamaha has made and in this sense our engineers and team
crew are really working very well. I’m just very lucky
to be a representative of such a fantastic team. It’s
also very encouraging to be going to Laguna Seca in this situation,
when we will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Yamaha.”
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