Valentino Rossi slams Marc Marquez again over "absurd" 2015 MotoGP title feud

Valentino Rossi says Marc Marquez’s actions in the 2015 MotoGP championship battle were “absurd” and says it “worries” him how angry it still makes him.

MotoGP legend Rossi believes Marquez conspired to sabotage his 2015 title chances based on how he rode during that year’s Australian Grand Prix, with the Italian presenting his findings in an explosive press conference a week later in Malaysia.

During the race, Marquez and Rossi raced aggressively with each other, which ended up in a controversial collision triggered by the latter.

Rossi was penalised for this and earned a back-of-the-grid start for the Valencia finale due to reaching a certain number of penalty points, and ultimately lost the 2015 title to Jorge Lorenzo.

“It still stings…”

Rossi has never forgiven Marquez and continues to publicly claim that the Spaniard deliberately sabotaged his hopes of winning an eighth MotoGP title.

Marquez could become an eight-time champion as soon as next week’s Portuguese Grand Prix.

In a new TV interview promoting his autobiography, My Story, which launches in Italy this week and in the UK early next year, Rossi spoke of 2015 again.

“Everyone has their limits - some lower, some higher - but unfortunately, the story of 2015 is even more absurd and makes me even angrier because, in reality, Marquez wasn’t fighting for the championship; it was Lorenzo and I who were battling it out,” Rossi said on Che Tempo Che Fa.

“He was only fighting to make me lose, and in the end, he succeeded.”

He added: “That’s something that really doesn’t go away - it still stings.

“More than 10 years have passed, but the feeling and my state of mind when I think about it are the same as they were on that night in Valencia, and that worries me a little.

“But often I look in the mirror and tell myself, ‘Man, let’s not focus on that one loss but maybe on the others...

“But that’s how sport is: what you lose hurts much more than what you win.”

Rossi book set to lift the lid on multiple rivalries

Rossi’s new autobiography is set to touch on all of his rivalries from across his MotoGP career.

Unsurprisingly, his comments about 2015 in this new interview suggest there will be no revelation in his segment on Marquez.

But as Marquez nears an eighth world title, having come from 102 points behind in the standings after early-season injury woes, Rossi bringing 2015 back into the news cycle has not gone down well on social media.

As his frustrations over 2015 seem stronger than ever, public perception over Rossi is in danger of shifting away from his exceptional racing career.