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MotoGP Assen: Rossi shows pace on opening day

Valentino Rossi has described the opening day at Assen as a positive one, with the Italian ending the day fourth fastest.

Arriving at Assen one-year on from his last victory in MotoGP, the Doctor come hoping for a good result on the back of a podium run and ended the opening day four tenths behind his Movistar Factory Yamaha team-mate Maverick Vinales.

“The first day was quite positive because I was competitive in the morning and also in the afternoon,” said The Doctor.

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“In the morning I put a new tyre in and I finished third, so it means that my position is maybe not real, but in the afternoon everybody put the soft rear except Marquez so I finished in the top four.

“The feeling with the bike is good and also with the tyre you can push, and with the different options you can have a good pace for more laps, so this is good.”

Despite recent successes at the Dutch circuit, Rossi knew it didn’t count for anything before today’s session and in spite of the positive first day, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done before qualifying and Sundays race.

“On paper we’re strong in Assen but until you go out on track it’s impossible to say, but the start was good. It is also true that a we have a lot of different bikes and riders who are very close in the hot lap and also in the rhythm, so we need to work hard because I’m still not very comfortable in the hard braking and we have to try to improve the balance of the bike.

“And, as always, it is very important the tyre choice because it is very open and you need to make the right choice, so we hope that this weather continues for all the weekend.”

Tyres have become a hot topic in recent rounds in MotoGP and Rossi said that he tried all the rear tyre options today to get a good feel for all of his options.

“I tried all the three rears and I have some doubt on the front, but more on the rear,” explained the 39-year-old. “On the rear you can with three, but you can go also with the soft, but with the hard you are more constant and good until the end.

“It depends very much on the shape of the track for the race, it is too early to say, but for me the choice is open as always.”

Rossi was asked about the difficulties his team-mate is experiencing in the opening stages on his M1. Vinales is having trouble with early race pace with a full tank of fuel, something Rossi isn’t having any issues with.

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“For me it’s very difficult to understand why Maverick has a problem at the beginning of a race, for the simple reason because I don’t know because I am fast, so I don’t know why,” said Rossi.

“Apart from the joke, I know that they worked hard in the test and changed the balance of the bike and today Maverick was very fast and when he feels good with the bike, we know that he is very strong and very difficult to beat.”

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