Valentino Rossi's personal manager Davide Brivio has said that all the rumours circulating about the nine-time world champion's intention to retire following the loss of his close friend Marco Simoncelli yesterday are 'not true'.

Rossi spoke about the crash, which killed his close friend, on Twitter yesterday and Brivio, who used to be the Italian's team boss at Yamaha before his Ducati defection, used the same medium to quosh the speculation. Rossi was, along with Colin Edwards, involved in the collision which took Simoncelli's life yesterday at the Sepang MotoGP round.

"Many are asking about Vale stopping races. This not absolutely true and I'm sorry even that I have to explain it," Brivio Tweeted. Rossi's right-hand man Alessio 'Uccio' Salucci added: "For those asking, Vale is absolutely not thinking of retiring. I am upset that this false news is circulating at a moment like this."

Below is a video of Rossi explaining his thoughts on the crash to Loris Capirossi. There is no sound but you don't really need it.