Movistar Yamaha pairing Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo both struggled to find any confidence in the front of their respective M1s during the opening day of MotoGP practice at the Sachsenring, finishing 14th and 16th respectively on the overall timesheet.

The Doctor said he was unable to gain any feeling from his setup at all and then got stuck in traffic while trying a time attack lap.

“This was a difficult day for all the Yamaha riders, especially because we were struggling to find the right feeling with the front and the right temperature with the front tyre. Also the softer option is a bit too hard and we don’t have the feeling or enough confidence to push to the fullest,” said Rossi.

“This afternoon I also had another problem: I was stuck in traffic and wasn’t able to do the lap at 100 per cent and in fact I’m very far behind, so we hope for tomorrow and Sunday to have a better temperature and a little bit more sun, that can help us a lot.”

Lorenzo’s weekend started badly with an early crash and then didn’t get any better as he lacked any confidence in the bike. The reigning champion finished 1.6s off the pace.

"It looks like these are very cold and slippery conditions and you have to be very careful with the tyres. This morning I had a crash going downhill so to be honest I didn’t get good confidence in any of the corners of the track and I felt really slow,” he said.

“All the Yamahas are struggling at the moment in these conditions and I’m the slowest one, so let’s see if we can improve our speed. My physical condition after the crash is OK and will not be a problem for Sunday.”

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