Not for the first time this season, and just a day after revealing he's still discussing a switch to
Bridgestone tyres for 2008, grip problems left
Valentino Rossi looking relatively ordinary during Sunday's Australian Grand Prix.
Rossi was just two-seconds from world champion
Casey Stoner when he passed
Nicky Hayden for second place on lap 11 of 27 at Phillip Island, but went on to slip over ten seconds from the Australian's rear wheel by the finish - losing second to Stoner's Ducati team-mate
Loris Capirossi in the process.
Afterwards, the Fiat Yamaha star again pointed to tyre performance - or more precisely endurance - as being the decisive factor in his downfall, but claimed he wasn't too disappointed from a personal perspective of having given his all.
"Honestly I'm not too disappointed today because I know I did everything I could have possibly done," he declared. "I started okay and in the opening laps I felt like I could go quite fast and have the chance to fight at the front. I passed Pedrosa and at that stage I was quite close to Hayden and Stoner, but then I made a small mistake coming onto the straight and lost a bit of time. I managed to pass Pedrosa again but then I wasn't able to close the gap to Stoner, even though I was riding at the maximum.
"In places I had fun and I made some good passes; at the end especially I was hoping for a great battle with Capirossi, like the old days, but by then the grip from my rear tyre was very poor and I had to slow down to make sure I would arrive to the end," he confirmed. "I am very happy that I was on the podium because this is a special place and it's always a big emotion to stand there with all the crowds in pit lane. Today with Casey I think it was a bit like for me in Mugello! Anyway, now we go straight to Malaysia, where our bike usually goes well, so once again we will do the maximum and try for the win."
