Marco Bezzecchi
The 2015 MotoGP title fight went down as one of the greatest in history, with so many riders managing to get involved in a two-way scrap for the championship.
It was a beautiful and testing time for Yamaha towards the end of the year, who nervously awaited the result of the campaign, knowing that one of their factory riders would be claiming the crown.
Rossi had all the experience in the world, but age might have been a factor in some of his decision-making. The 36-year-old knew it might be his last chance for MotoGP success.
Meanwhile, Lorenzo was hunting a third title and had achieved more over the prior seasons than his teammate had.
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Lorenzo thinks Rossi saw Marc Marquez as his ‘successor’ before they actually started locking heads in the premier class.
In the heat of battle, Lorenzo kept a secret from Rossi and was doing everything he could to gain the smallest of advantages over the Italian rider. In the end, it worked.
READ MORE: How Jorge Lorenzo reacted when Valentino Rossi set the same time for 15 straight laps
Jorge Lorenzo thinks Valentino Rossi was ‘clearly’ too slow during the 2015 MotoGP title battle
Rossi’s ‘favourite rider to battle against’ was Lorenzo, and he admitted that while he was still racing him. The time they spent as teammates made for great entertainment.
But, although 2015 ended in controversy as Rossi clashed with Marc Marquez, Lorenzo doesn’t believe that the Spaniard deserves to take the blame.
“The thing is that I was the complete enemy of Pedrosa and the complete enemy of Marquez,” he said in Mat Oxley’s Marc The Magnificent biography.
“But at that moment, Marquez was even more the enemy of Rossi, because of what had happened in Argentina and at Assen. It wasn’t that I suddenly became friends with Marc.
“The problem was that Valentino was clearly slower than me, and for that reason, he couldn’t win at the last four, five, six races. The problem wasn’t that Marc helped me, Marc didn’t help me, the problem was that Valentino needed two, three, four-tenths he didn’t have,” Lorenzo continued.
“If he hadn’t said anything in the Sepang press conference, if he had just put his helmet on and opened the throttle, he could’ve made pole position, won the race and won the championship.
“What was his problem? Was it that he was already 36 years old, and there were guys who were 23 or 27 who were really, really quick? He was really quick, but in this sport, a few tenths is a lot.”
READ MORE: Jorge Lorenzo once picked his MotoGP goat between Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi
How did Yamaha react to Jorge Lorenzo beating Valentino Rossi in 2015?
Lorenzo would end up pipping Rossi to the title by just five points, after he failed to make up enough positions at the title decider in Valencia.
In fact, Yamaha had a ‘poisonous atmosphere’ at the 2015 title decider, and there were even riot police on hand to deal with any potential dramas.
That’s the sort of following that Rossi had amassed during his career. They backed him no matter what.
Yamaha cancelled their celebrations, which was a shame for Lorenzo, who didn’t get to celebrate his third and final title at the track.
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