According to Rossi, teammate Jorge Lorenzo and Honda's Dani Pedrosa will be his main rivals for the race win, but admitted he will start the weekend as the underdog. Lorenzo will come to Misano with a boosting confidence – following his Indianapolis win – and will push hard for a good result, especially since there are only 5 races left in the championship.
Although he'll start the Misano Adriatico event as defending champion, Rossi believes last year's success was mostly the result of some fortunate incidents rather than a majestic ride.
“I think it will be very, very, very difficult to try to stay in front of Jorge, and it's already a good target to try to stay in front of Dani because his acceleration, the Honda and his riding style will be good. So we'll start by looking at the podium because we have to take some important points, and then we'll look towards the other races,” said Rossi yesterday.
“I think it will be a difficult weekend, like last year. In the end I was able to win, but Casey (Stoner) crashed when he was in front of me and Lorenzo with the Michelins that were slower than the Bridgestones finished very close to me, so I think it will be very difficult this weekend,” added the reigning MotoGP champion.
Lorenzo admitted he is now alive in the title fight, but insisted nothing can be taken for granted in the races to come. With all title rivals racing like crazy for each points, any mistake may prove vital in the remaining rounds.
“As I said after the race at Indianapolis, the top four riders in the championship are always pushing very hard, riding almost a second quicker than last year. So it's more likely that you'll crash in this situation, when you are pushing every lap and every corner,” said Lorenzo, who last year finished the Misano race in 2nd place.
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