Rossi: Stoner rode like a god!

Valentino Rossi isn't used to losing one-on-one battles in the closing stages of a grand prix, but even the great Italian could do nothing to prevent championship leader Casey Stoner snatching a 0.069secs victory in Sunday's Catalan Grand Prix.

Although beaten by Stoner at four of the previous six rounds, Rossi was on pole position at Catalunya - one of his favourite and most successful circuits - had taken an emotional home victory just one week earlier and, in contrast to his previous 2007 losses, had no set-up or tyre concerns worth mentioning.

But Stoner, although qualifying in fourth, was also confident in his set-up - and the pair were inseparable for almost the entire race, with Honda's Dani Pedrosa enjoying the best seat in the house as the two title leaders battled furiously a few tenths of a second ahead.

Seven rounds in and Ducati still holds a clear top speed advantage over Yamaha, although Stoner was - on average - only 4.6km/h faster than Rossi's M1 during the race and the Italian more than once thwarted the 21-year-old under braking, after the Desmosedici had pulled alongside on the straight.

Most crucial to Stoner's success was his stubborn ability to retaliate whenever Rossi attacked - the pair exchanged the lead repeatedly during the closings stages before the Australian delivered his race winning move into turn one on the penultimate lap, then rode perfectly to the chequered flag despite being hounded by Rossi every inch of the way.

"Going into this weekend we weren't sure how things would go. At Mugello we had a few difficulties and we thought it might be the same here," said the ever calm Casey. "On Friday we weren't exactly on the pace, we were losing a lot in a couple of areas. Fortunately, the team worked really hard, we came up with a solution on Saturday morning and since then we've kept the bike exactly the same. The whole team did a great job this weekend and proved wrong people who said we can't win on European tracks.

"There were some nice passing manoeuvres going on everywhere," smiled the #27, now a four times race winner this season. "All three of us had our strong points and our weak points around the circuit, I was just trying to minimise my weak points and cover my lines, and it worked out. It was such a close race, no one could go away, it was very, very enjoyable to be racing that close. It was really good because our bike was set up quite well for the braking points, so for Valentino to pass us he usually had to run wide and we were able to pass him back immediately a lot of times. The way the team has set up the bike for me is fantastic, and the Bridgestones worked great again, at a circuit where they've struggled in the past, so they've really changed things around."

Rossi always revels in a close race - and usually wins them, but the Italian 'couldn't have tried harder' on Sunday and was instead left to look at areas of his M1 that need improving.

"What a race!" grinned the Italian, after his record 96th premier-class podium. "Even if I'm disappointed not to win, it's a great emotion to be part of a race like that and fantastic fun. It really was an amazing battle to the end with many wonderful overtaking manoeuvres by both of us in all different parts of the track! Unfortunately I lost a bit of time at the start and then it was quite hard to pass Hopkins because he was fantastic on the brakes. Then with Stoner it was a great fight and honestly I couldn't have tried harder to win, but he was a very hard rival.

"There were some places where we could have been better today, not just on the straight but also in some corners, but anyway it was a great experience and it will help us to understand what we need to do to keep on improving," he claimed. "Yamaha and Michelin are working very hard and the fact that we could fight like this today to the very end showed this.

"Of course I'm sad because I've won a lot of times here in Montmelo and I wanted to win again, but like I said, I don't think I could have done anymore today! We know that we can beat Stoner but today he rode like a god and he's a fantastic rival, so congratulations to him," concluded Rossi sportingly.

"It was a fantastic spectacle for everyone between three great riders but Stoner was very strong today and he won, despite Valentino doing everything he could," admitted Rossi's team director Davide Brivio "It's a very exciting championship but we're not even half way yet and we're only 14 points down. Now we have to work hard to try to give Valentino the best possible bike at every track so that he can continue to ride like this, and win!"