Asked if he felt he was currently the best he had ever been, 35-year-old Rossi replied: “For me, yes. It’s difficult to say, but I’ve worked a lot this year on all the small details. Everything has changed. First of all, my rivals have changed – they’re younger and a lot stronger than in the past.
“I am older, but I feel at 100 percent. The bike’s changed, the tires and electronic systems have changed a lot, and especially the way to ride the bike has changed a lot in 10 years. But I like trying to improve, that’s part of the game.”
At the end of 2013, Rossi set himself a deadline of six races into the ’14 season to decide whether it was worth continuing in MotoGP. Performing well enough to satisfy his own standards left him “so happy and so proud”, said Rossi.
“It was especially a very good season because I was able to improve my speed and results a lot compared to last year,” he said. “That was a very important target for me, because I had to decide whether to continue or to stop.
“It was a year I enjoyed a lot. I had a lot of very good races and very good battles.”