Rossi: “We had to suffer, but we tried”

Tough opening day but the Italian marches on through the pain barrier

Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) had a crash during a motocross training session ahead of his home Italian GP, but the nine-time World Champion was declared fit to race and got through Friday action to end the day in P14.

The ‘Doctor’ says the day was an important one to understand how he’ll feel racing  - and started off with a lot of pain before some improvements in the afternoon, hoping things will only get better from here.

Valentino Rossi, P14: “Today's sessions were very important to get an understanding of my condition. This morning I suffered a lot, I had a lot of pain on the right, especially on acceleration, but this afternoon the situation was a bit better. I struggled physically, especially with my breathing, because I'm not at 100%, but it is getting better. We hope that tomorrow and Sunday the situation will improve. Usually Friday is the most difficult day, so we had to suffer a bit, but we tried.”