Rossi “had to struggle” in Qatar MotoGP race

The 42-year-old managed to qualify fourth on his SRT debut, but admitted on Saturday he didn’t feel he was strong enough to fight for a 200th MotoGP podium come the race.

Rossi struggled all weekend to get endurance out of the soft rear tyre and quickly faded from fourth to 12th by the chequered flag – 10.7 seconds adrift of race winner Maverick Vinales on the factory team Yamaha.

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