Michelin rue hard tyre choice

Michelin riders were absent from the podium for the second time this season last Sunday at Le Mans, with Fiat Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards particularly affected by their tyre choice. Rossi had led the early stages of the race but was unable to run up front in the rain, which increased in intensity with every lap, the opposite of what Michelin had forecast. The tyre manufacturer admitted after the race that they got it wrong, and should have cosen softer tyres for their MotoGP riders.

"After the race it's easy to say that we chose too-hard tyres for most of our riders for the rain," said Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin's director of motorcycle racing."It's always a gamble, at Phillip Island last year when we had the first GP with mid- race tyre changes we chose very well and won the race. Of course, you never really know what the weather's going to do but we now know that we should have chosen softer rear tyres for most of our guys. We definitely didn't expect such heavy rain, we had guessed there would be lighter rainfall, so most of our riders used medium-range rears which weren't the best for the waterlogged track. That's why Valentino had to take wider lines into the corners, which allowed several riders to pass him. Dani chose a softer rear, because he usually uses softer tyres, and although he isn't very confident in the wet he was able to ride pretty fast today.

"It's a shame because I think we could have had a very good race if the conditions had stayed dry. Valentino and Dani came on very strong at the start, they were fighting up front, Nicky Hayden was also riding wonderfully in the dry, Carlos Checa too, until he made a mistake when there were so many riders fighting close together and fell. It's been a difficult day but this year's championship is very long. The level of competition is very high at the moment, which is great for the sport, and we look forward to fighting for the win again."