After a great weekend in Mugello in front of Valentino Rossi’s home crowd, the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider heads into the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya in high spirits.

The Doctor was on the podium again in Italy and reached the remarkable milestone of 300 Grands Prix at the Tuscan circuit, riding to third behind Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo who had a great battle for victory.

Rossi brings his current podium pace to a circuit where he has a fantastic record and no less than six Grand Prix victories in the premier class. Indeed prior to 2010 Rossi had finished on the podium for 13 successive years at Barcelona-Catalunya, a sequence which started when he won the 125cc race there in 1997.

One of the most memorable races witnessed at the track remains the famous battle between Rossi and his teammate Jorge Lorenzo in 2009.

Having seen Lorenzo fight with rampant World Champion Marquez in the last race Rossi is hoping to join in the battle again on the Mediterranean coast.


“I am very happy to go to Barcelona, especially after the good weekend at Mugello where we put two Yamahas on the podium,” he said. “I really like the Grand Prix of Catalunya. It is a track that I enjoy a lot, it's fantastic. I know that to fight with Jorge and Marc I have to give my best from the first free practice to be very strong on Sunday.”

“I will try to do everything to be in front with them, once again. I am very happy with how we are working on the bike. I know that we can do even better, the team is very motivated and for that I really want to start the weekend in Barcelona.”

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