Valentino Rossi couldn’t repeat his podium performance from Jerez in this weekend’s Czech Grand Prix, but did describe his comeback from tenth on the grid as a “better performance” than that of the Andalucia Grand Prix, finishing fifth.

Rossi made a bright start from tenth on the grid, jumping up to eighth by the end of the first few laps. Rossi quickly found himself latched onto the back of Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team-mate Maverick Viñales and managed to get the better of his struggling team-mate.

The 41-year-old caught up to the back of Aleix Espargaro and Alex Rins, passing the Aprilia and ultimately ended the Grand Prix in fifth.

Speaking after the race, Rossi said:

Valentino Rossi

“It was a good race today. The second race in Jerez was better because we got a podium, but in general, my performance here was better, because I had to start from the fourth row,” said Rossi, who continued working with the new bike set-up that worked so well in Andalucia.
“The races have become very complicated now in MotoGP, but I felt good on the bike, and I had a good performance at this race track. I was able to be strong from the beginning to the end and also in the last part of the race I was good.
“It‘s a shame that yesterday we made some mistakes in qualifying because if I could have started one row to the front maybe I could have fought for the podium.
“But anyway, this remains a good performance and I enjoyed the race.”

Valentino Rossi feels that had he qualified better, his 200th Grand Prix podium could have become a reality.

The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP rider will return to track action next week, when MotoGP returns to Spielberg for a double-dose of Red Bull Ring action.

Featured image: Yamaha MotoGP