Valentino Rossi: 'Beating Marquez with a worse bike? Impossible.'

Rossi discussed many topics alongside legends Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa, Giacomo Agostini, Casey Stoner, Freddie Spencer and Kevin Schwantz.

With a combined 23 premier class titles between them, the seven Hall of Famers reminisced about the highs and lows of their careers, as well as the major differences between eras such as push-starts and training methods.

They also discussed the mental aspect of competing in MotoGP and the current crop of riders who populate the grid. Rossi in particular has a close affinity with many of the Italian riders and acts as a mentor figure to the likes of Pecco Bagnaia and Marco Bezzecchi.

When asked by Pedrosa whether he will ride a MotoGP bike again, Rossi responded the following way:

"Never. [...] I don't miss it honestly. I don't want to ride one. But I usually ride with a Yamaha R1, sometimes with an R6. We ride with small bikes, like the Ohvale. I train with the guys, with Pecco, with my brother, with Bezzecchi, with Franco [Morbidelli]."

"Who is the strongest from your point of view? Is it Pecco?" Asked Jorge Lorenzo, Rossi's former teammate and title rival.

"At the moment, the most in-form guy is Bezzecchi." responded The Doctor.

Dani Pedrosa, another former rival and Honda legend, then interjected: "He [Bezzecchi] surprised me with the Aprilia. I didn't think he, moving down from Ducati lets say, [...] he made a step backwards."

"It's more difficult." replied Rossi, "But he is in form."

"Also at The Ranch?" asked Lorenzo.

"He is the one that trains the hardest," continued Rossi, "Also at The Ranch he is very fast. He's very focussed. He wants to win. Now. [...] But the Aprilia is a bit worse than the Ducati, so beating Marquez with a worse bike? Impossible."

As for Pecco Bagnaia's struggles at Ducati in the last year, Rossi gave an insight into the mentality of the former world champion and how things have virtually imploded inside the Italian garage.

"Pecco is unfortunately a bit lost now." Said Rossi.

"Is it the bike he doesn't like?" Asked Lorenzo.

"What do you think?" was Rossi's reply.