The nine Michelin supported
MotoGP riders have been split almost equally over their choice of front tyre width.
Michelin's men had gradually been leaning towards the use of a wider front tyre, first introduced last year, with world champion
Valentino Rossi the last to switch due to having had so much past success with the narrower front.
Unfortunately, Rossi's first race on the wider front - the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai in mid-May - saw the Italian forced to retire after a chunk of rubber became detached.
By Sunday's British Grand Prix Rossi, together with Camel Yamaha team-mate
Colin Edwards, Team Roberts rider
Kenny Roberts Jr and Repsol Honda's
Dani Pedrosa - winner of the
Donington race - had all switched back to a new version of the narrower front tyre.
However, Pedrosa is currently the only RC211V rider on the narrower front with championship leading team-mate
Nicky Hayden, Fortuna Honda riders
Marco Melandri and
Toni Elias, Konica Minolta Honda's Makoto Tamada and Honda LCR's
Casey Stoner all still using the wider option.
"Dani is using our smaller profile front tyre now, after we introduced a new construction of this tyre at Assen," confirmed Nicolas Goubert, Michelin's director of motorcycle racing. "Some riders prefer the smaller profile, others like the bigger profile, it all depends on the bike and the riding style. We now have four guys out of nine using the smaller profile tyre: Dani, Kenny, Valentino and Colin."
Despite their different tyre choice, Michelin riders took the top seven positions in Sunday's British Grand Prix.
