You take a podium whenever you can and let’s admit it Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi were pretty lucky at Le Mans, with Dani Pedrosa out of the running and Marco Simoncelli getting a ride-through, Rossi actually got to celebrate his first ever podium with Ducati this season.
While not fast as the Honda’s or Yamaha’s, the combo Rossi/Ducati seemed to be better on track with the Italian looking like he’s finally getting some sort of measure of the fickle GP11, even if took him all weekend and Burgess having to do his usual last minute magic routine, and this is despite days and days of Franco Battaini and Vitto Guareschi testing new solutions and they still haven’t got it right … yet.
Here’s what Rossi and Nicky Hayden (did someone actually see any footage of this Ducati rider during the race?) had to say about this weekend’s round:“We’re very pleased with this podium because we’re on the right path, and especially because I had fun today.
I rode the Desmosedici well, I was fast in the technical parts of the track, I felt good from start to finish and I had good lap times,” said Rossi.
“This morning we made a last change to the setting together with Jeremy and the guys from Ducati, and it helped cut another couple of tenths.
I knew I could beat Lorenzo, so that was my goal.
I also passed Dovi at one point, but I got a little confused and made a move on the penultimate lap instead of the last one.
I lost my concentration momentarily, but in short, he got me again.
Anyway, it’s fine like this; I’m happy for myself, for my team, for Filippo (Preziosi), and for all the boys at Ducati.
This result boosts our morale.
We still have to keep working and improving though, because there’s more to be done.
I also have to improve and keep adapting my style to the Ducati, because I’m still not riding it as I should, but in the meanwhile, we’ll enjoy today’s nice race and podium.
” “We didn’t do ourselves any favors by starting 10th, but actually, we made a little step forward with the bike today.
I got a decent start but was just really tight and lost some time.
As the race got going, I was able to move up a bit and slowly bring back Spies and Colin,” said Hayden.
Colin crashed, but once I got in front of Ben, I wasn’t really able to get down in the 34s and get away like I needed to.
Seventh isn’t a great result for us, but I would say that overall, it’s probably been our best weekend yet.
When the track was cold, I was able to go quite fast?always in the top five in those conditions.
I hoped for better in the race, but I’m looking forward to the next stretch; we’re about to really get into the season.
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