Pirelli boss Giorgio Barbier has hit back at critcism of the performance of his company's wet weather tyres over the Monza World Superbike weekend, saying that teams ignored their advice and refused to run on available intermediates.

Controversy began during Superpole when chunks were seen to break off various riders' rear tyres as their intended operating temperature of 50°C was quadrupled on the track's two 208mph+ sraights. This caused a rider meeting this morning and refusal to run in full wet conditions meaning the first race had to be cancelled.

"First and foremost I would like to make an important note on Saturday’s Superpole: Pirelli consistently recommended that the teams and riders use the intermediate tyres which were available to them. This advice, however, was completely ignored since all of the riders used rain tyres. Clearly the reason for this was the fact that the track was completely dry in places, while in others it was wet due to the trees along the track which kept the asphalt from drying," said Pirelli Moto race boss Giorgio Barbier

"The rain tyres run well at 50°-60°, but on the two consecutive straight stretches, which were completely dry, they obviously reached temperatures well above 200°. This caused a meltdown of the compound in the centre. I would also like to reassure everyone on this point that Pirelli tyres have a particular structure with a steel belt, and therefore it is absolutely impossible for them to explode.

That said, on Sunday the riders in the Superstock classes raced as scheduled, in conditions which were even worse than those during the Superbike races, using the rain tyres on the front and the intermediate or race tyres on the rear. In Supersport, as further proof that the Pirelli rain tyres can most definitely sustain an entire race without any problems, the riders raced and finished on rain tyres. So it was a shame that, although the Superbike riders had two intermediate solutions available to them for the rear, they expected only to use the racing slicks. Once the race began, in any case, it was clear that even in those conditions a good race could be run."