MotoGP news: Valentino Rossi slammed by rival for underhand tactics

The duo used to work together at Yamaha.But Lorenzo packed his bags in 2017 for a big-money move to rivals Ducati.Life at the Bologna-based outfit has been a struggle for the 30-year-old though.He finished finished seventh in the previous campaign and looks set to struggle again this time round.

In his latest book – ‘What I’ve learned by 30’ – Lorenzo has revealed the major issues he faced when working with Rossi.

He wrote: “Rossi had come back to Yamaha and they wanted his results to improve.

“I found out that my trainer, Antonio Casciano, had met with Rossi and his trainer in Tavullia.

“He had explained my training method to him and so I decided to stop working with Antonio.

“Valentino started to train with the exact same bikes that I had been using in Gerno, doing exactly the same exercises.

“Coincidence or not, he started to be more competitive”.

Lorenzo says the poaching didn’t stop there.

Rossi also started using the same bike settings which lead to a bust-up with Massimo Meregalli – the president of Yamaha.

He added: “I decided to talk to Maio, he could accept that he copied our ‘settings’ before each race, but that was too much.

”I preferred to stop going to technical meetings after each training session, I suspected that Meregalli told Rossi’s team everything and it didn’t sit well with me.

“You can’t give an advantage and let them copy you.

“Everything that gives you an advantage over your rivals, you have to keep secret.”

Source: Daily Star