It now appears that Rossi rode another lap with his bike in that condition, but was losing touch with Edwards and Hopkins - and soon looking at the rear of his machine. The Italian correctly guessed that he had a severe tyre problem, but wrongly thought it was the rear which had failed (as is normally the case).
The #46 pulled into the pits for a tyre change on lap 16, pointing at his rear wheel as he drew to a halt. Camel Yamaha duly changed the rear and, in the heat of the moment, apparently didn't spot the missing front fender and damage to the front tyre - although Rossi's friend Uccio began frantically pointing at the front of the bike just as he pulled away. Valentino himself soon realised the error and rode slowly around the lap before retiring.
"The bike felt good but just as I got my pace to 2min 0.1secs it suddenly started to feel wrong and I thought I had a problem with the rear tyre," conformed Rossi. "I came in to change it but as I went back out I realised it was actually the front tyre, so that was the end of the race for me.
"I'm really disappointed because I felt in the race that I had the pace to at least pass Hopkins and Edwards, so as far as I am concerned we have lost 16 points and a podium, which would have been a good result after the problems we've had this weekend," he added. "We've lost some ground in the championship so I am feeling very disappointed right now but there is a long way to go yet."
Rossi was using exactly the same wider-profile front tyre as all but one of the other eight Michelin riders, but was the only person to suffer such a problem - the cause of which will now be investigated by Michelin.
