In a not-particularly-unexpected turn of events, both Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner have publicly denied there was any blocking, forcing off track, line-stealing, waving, staring, gesticulating, shouting or any other type of shenanigans (which is a great word and massively under-used) at the Estoril MotoGP test.
When asked about it in the the pre-event press conference, Stoner said: "I had just finished my lap and I wanted to see what the Ducati was capable of so I followed him but I missed my braking marker. I didn’t want to overtake him but I ran a bit wide and I came past too quickly, but didn’t want to get into his way. Valentino slowed up and looked at me, I looked at him and it ended there.”
Rossi then kind of went back on what he had said previously, adding: “In reality nothing special, nothing, no problem. Nothing happened.”
Meaning both riders have been informed by a) their PR people, b) their respective team bosses or c) Carmelo Ezpeleta to knock it off before it all gets out of hand.
