In fact, The Doctor battled for third place with Casey Stoner, losing a last-corner duel with Ducati’s rider and crossing the finish line fourth. His impressive return made Stoner state the world champion “is not a crippled hero,” as everyone was thinking.
"I didn't expect this! I thought it was maybe possible to make fourth or fifth place but I thought it would be very difficult. In the end I was fourth but I had a great battle with Casey and I was so close to the podium, so this is a fantastic result after missing four races,” the reigning champ said.
Rossi’s return was made possible firstly thanks to Doctor Claudio Costa and secondly thanks to some special modifications made by Dainese to his suit and boots. Specifically, these modifications included changes on the bootleg part: the classical shin protector in polypropylene has been substituted by one made in carbon-kevlar and another one has been added to protect the fibula.
The bootleg’s circumference has been widened in order to be able to put the new protections and allow an easier insertion of the new boot. The boot in fact has been widened as well to guarantee a better comfort to the injured leg and a further side opening has been added in order to ease the fit.
“I need some more kilometres to really recover the feeling and feel completely okay with the bike again, but I think I did a great job and this was a very good comeback, better than we could wish for. I felt a bit of pain in my shoulder but more in the leg when changing direction, but at the end the battle with Casey was such fun that I didn't think about it. Unfortunately though he just got the better of me on the last corner!” Rossi added.
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