Lorenzo weighs in on Rossi/Stoner crash

From motogp.com

Three years to the day since he won his first premier class MotoGP race (at Estoril) Jorge Lorenzo unveiled his new book titled “Jorge Lorenzo, El nuevo rey de MotoGP” (The new King of MotoGP) in Barcelona on Wednesday.

Different to the biography published about the 2010 MotoGP World Champion three years ago, his new book recounts his career through the medium of photos, with some 400 having been selected from a collection of more than 1,000. The majority of the photos were taken by renowned photographer Mirco Lazzari, with the BBC’s Matthew Roberts having written the accompanying captions which annotate each picture.

Fielding questions from eager reporters at the press conference which accompanied the launch of the book, Lorenzo spoke on a range of topics including that of his time alongside Valentino Rossi in the Yamaha box.

“Valentino has been a very important rival in my MotoGP career, a very tough one, but I respect all rivals in the same manner and as equals and I don’t idolize anyone,” said Lorenzo. “All the riders who line up on the starting grid are capable of beating you on any given day. I don’t give any greater or lesser importance to Valentino than I do to any other rider.”

Inevitably Lorenzo was asked for his opinion on the Rossi/Stoner incident which was a major talking point following the Jerez race.

“When you’re on a bike the adrenaline is flowing at its maximum, and for Stoner it was all going great – victory in Qatar and pole at Jerez,” observed Lorenzo. “He was at the head of the race when he went down, taken down by another rider. If that happens to be Valentino and he’s someone you don’t like much, as is the case with Stoner, it bothers you more. It was in the heat of the moment and you can forgive what he did. It was a human error from Valentino. Perhaps he was too fired up because he saw a possibility… he was more fired up than normal, and that’s why he crashed.”