MotoGP - Le Mans ***SPOILER ALERT***

[Ulvetanna_imp]

So...you missed my point. I never said that tire choice isn't critical. However, I don't think that any of the four riders mentioned made poor tire choices in this race. I also added that, even if they had made bad choices, neither you nor I have enough information at our disposal at this point to make the definitive statement you made that Rossi "made a better tire choice" than the others.

By the way, when you said (about Rossi), "Rather than try to qualify on the front row he rode his bike within its limits..", did you mean that he set out with a strategy not to qualify #1?

That is exactly what I meant. One can only qualify within the limts of the motorcycle and track. Not everyone can get on pole. It's nice to be on the front row, but clearly Rossi did not have the setup to get there and knew enough to refrain from pushing which could have caused a crash. Riders don't always walk away from an accident although most of the time they do, thanks to safety features of the track and suit.

A lot of guys don't see what Rossi is doing. They think it's always about being in front or getting the pole position. It's a championship and you have got to keep the bike on the rubber to win.

Give you an example, in Argentina there was a bike switch. Rossi and Marquez were running 1-2, and as we know, Rossi caught Marquez and passed him pretty handily. It was clear to the educated eye that Rossi's setup was better, tires, suspension, electronics.

When the riders made the mandatory bike switch, the situation was reversed. Marquez' bike was clearly, to the trained eye, working beautifully, just gobbling up the track. Rossi's 2nd bike was not quite as good as his first bike and he eventually dropped back to fourth. However, he was dogging the two Ducatis and Iannone took out Dovi on the last lap, leaving Rossi with a nice second place. It was all about setup. On their first bikes, Rossi was able to make time on Marquez. Second bikes, situation was reversed. Setup. The post-race video interviews have both riders explaining that this was exactly the issue, setup.

Here again we see Rossi's strategy. Iannone and Dovi became desperate on the last lap at Argentina and crashed out, being severely harrassed by Rossi.

In France, Marquez and Dovi crashed themselves out trying to catch Rossi. There is some very effective psychological warfare going on there to the trained eye.

Pole position can be important but as we just saw, it is far from being all-important. Bike setup is completely different for qualifying. A lot can happen in a long race and Rossi just showed us how it is done.

I don't know if you have Videopass but much of the information you may be missing is provided during the commentary and in the pre/post race interviews. Also twenty years of watching and participating in motorcycle racing and track events also gives me a practiced eye.

Another very important feature of Videopass are the multiple camera angles that show how the bike is behaving and what the telemetry is reporting.