UPDATE I: Casey Stoner has responded to Valentino Rossi's comments, writing on Twitter: "I think Valentino feels a little more brave now that I'm not there :)"
The Australian added: "I think Marc Marquez will do a good job stirring things up next year also, should be good to watch!"
Reigning Moto2 champion Marquez is taking over Stoner's RCV ride at Repsol Honda...
UPDATE II: On Friday (December 14) Dainese posted the following message on Facebook, which states that their article used quotes from an 'old interview' with Rossi - meaning the quotes are true, but not made recently and thus out of context - something they omitted to mention in the magazine. Dainese do not say when the quotes were originally made.
However no statement has been sent out by the Dainese Press Office - which emailed the press to inform them about the latest issue of the Legends magazine - or placed on the Dainese website, where the article is still available in its original form:
"Considering the exaggerated echo of an article about the career of Valentino Rossi, we would like to highlight that the words published in the latest issue of the Dainese Legends magazine have been taken out from an old interview and consequently reported out of the original context.
"We wish to apologize for all the polemic comments that neither Valentino nor Dainese ever wanted to instigate."
Valentino Rossi has claimed that newly retired double
MotoGP champion
Casey Stoner 'started to hate him' after suffering a bitter defeat at the hands of the Italian in the 2008 US GP.
The Laguna Seca race was the turning point of the season - Ducati's reigning champion Stoner dominating practice and qualifying, only for Rossi to
smother the Australian's advantage in the race.
Whenever Stoner moved ahead Rossi retaliated, the most memorable - and controversial - move seeing Rossi bouncing his Yamaha beyond the corkscrew kerbing to retake the lead.
Stoner later ran off track and dropped his Ducati, remounting to finish second. The #27 was unimpressed by Rossi's moves, refusing to shake the Italian's hand in park ferme, although he did so at the following round.
The battle - along with Rossi's last turn pass on
Jorge Lorenzo in Catalunya 2009 - became one of the defining moments of the 800cc
MotoGP era.