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Rossi and Lorenzo Together Is Impossible, Believes Herve Poncharal

Yamaha Tech 3 boss and IRTA official Herve Poncharal ponders about what chances the Rossi-Lorenzo duo has after the end of the 2016 season. He thinks that having both riders in the team was made impossible by what happened at the end of the previous championship.
Lorenzo vs Rossi 1 photo
Photo: motogp.com
2016 is the final contract year for both Yamaha's factory riders, and what's next is probably one of the biggest mysteries on the MotoGP grid. Poncharal's strong belief is that signing one rider would automatically exclude the other, as managing the tensions between the two seems a sisyphic task.

Naturally, the main question that needs an answer is whether Rossi will decide to prolong his career in MotoGP beyond 2016 or will call it quits. Some say that Rossi, now 37, is too old for keeping up with the younger guns on the track.

Also, he had a majestic career and there is nothing missing from his panoply, so retiring is maybe a good decision, the same people believe. Even more, they say that Rossi gave his 100% in 2015, but was not able to claw the title, so that's that.

On the other hand, guys who knew him for a long time say that he still takes an immense amount of joy in competing, and he's keeping true to his statements of old.

Back in the day, when his retirement started to make it to the front pages, The Doctor used to say that he would not stop as long as he has fun racing and is competitive, irrespective of age. Now, although seeing him retire could be seen as a natural, logical move, Rossi has proven more than once that he can defy logic, and in a good way.

"I would like to see a bit more respect," says Giacomo Agostini

Poncharal says that Yamaha will most likely have to make a crucial decision, judging on who they sign first. Lorenzo stated on multiple occasions that his dream is to stay with Yamaha until the end of his career, but we know nothing lasts forever.

On the other hand, Rossi's decision to keep on racing or quit will be made after the first 4 to 6 races of the season, like he has done before. If we are to guess how things will play out, we'd say that Yamaha will wait to see how Rossi rides, and only then make a call.

Having Rossi and Lorenzo together for two more years might do, considering that Lin Jarvis is English, and therefore, not caught up in the "Italy vs Spain" thing.

Speaking about the upcoming championship, the legendary Giacomo Agostini says that he'd like to see more respect between riders, and especially between Rossi and Marquez.

"I would like to see a bit more respect between them because for me this is the most important thing. I don’t think that true friendship can exist between rivals in our sport, but the important thing is to have respect for each other as that leads to great racing and this is what I hope we will see," the 122-time GP winner adds.

Is there a future for Rossi and Lorenzo in the same team beyond 2016? What do you think?
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