Rossi has contradicted himself, says Pedrosa
Dani Pedrosa has accused Valentino Rossi of backtracking on his previous stance as an advocate of the mantra that 'racing is racing' after Sunday's high drama in the Malaysian MotoGP at Sepang.
Race winner Pedrosa says Rossi has contradicted himself by claiming Marc Marquez was trying to help Jorge Lorenzo at Phillip Island after becoming embroiled in a battle with Rossi and Andrea Iannone for third before going on to win the race.
Rossi came in for criticism after colliding with Marquez at Sepang, forcing the outgoing world champion to crash out of the race as the friction between them spilled over.
"In my opinion, first of all I think Valentino should be here to explain that [question on whether Marquez had interfered with Rossi's race at Sepang]," said Pedrosa in the post-race press conference.
"Other than that, I think racing is racing and that in the past I say many times we should race more calm. I remember [saying] with Marco [Simoncelli] that we should race more calm because this is MotoGP, the bikes are big, dangerous and we should try [to be less aggressive].
"But always Valentino was saying, 'this is racing and racing is like this and we should fight'. Now, he's changing his comments to what I was saying before," Pedrosa added.
"A little bit contradiction in this moment of what he always said and what he is saying now. Maybe [it is because] tension in the championship is there obviously, but it's a very learning moment clearly, I've never been MotoGP champion and I respect all of the riders, especially Valentino, Marc and Jorge because they are great champions.
"But a championship is good when you win it because you are the man."
Pedrosa also emphasised that Rossi has a responsibility to perform with integrity given his millions of fans around the world and his status as a motorcycling great.
"The thing that I see is that Valentino has been always one of, or the greatest, in this period, so he has a lot of fans around the world and he is one who many fans and riders and young riders look up to him," Pedrosa said.
"It's a little bit tricky now to see these actions because everybody can make mistakes obviously but I think that's why he should be here, because many people look what he is doing and he has to take care about what we do because we must try to be right and do things correctly."
