Rossi fan club condemns Misano jeers

Valentino Rossi's Official Fan Club vice president, Flavio Fratesi, has condemned the jeers directed towards Marc Marquez during the Misano MotoGP.

Despite Rossi's absence from the event due to injury, race winner Marquez was booed by some fans on the podium, having received a similar reception when he fell in morning warm-up - something Marquez felt was unacceptable.

Such behaviour has long been directed at Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo following an acrimonious end to the 2015 world championship, in which Rossi claimed Marquez was trying to thwart his title hopes.

But while Rossi seems to have largely moved on - while their relationship will never be the same, he is frequently seen shaking hands with Marquez - Fratesi is concerned that some fans refuse to respect all competitors in what is clearly a very dangerous sport.

According to Marca, Fratesi said: "There were 20,000 of us in the Rossi fan club grandstands. It's like a football stadium. Among these people, there are some who have no sporting 'fibre'. They are the minority, but we cannot control them all. It's impossible.

"I want to tell them again that we have to respect everyone, all the riders are important. These people do not merely deserve not to be in a fan club, they do not deserve to be considered motorcycle fans.

"All the riders are important. And they must all be applauded. We are frankly sorry about what happened at Misano. This should never happen. It is not a phenomenon confined to Italy, it happens also in Spain where Márquez is also hissed.

"Everyone is racing and it's unhealthy to hear whistles at the end. I applaud Márquez, he does not deserve to be whistled."