Last July, Valentino Rossi finished the Andalucia Jerez MotoGP race in a time of 41m 28.212s. It was good enough for third place, 5.5s behind race winner Fabio Quartararo. On Sunday, Rossi - who continues to have a Factory-spec Yamaha after switching from Monster to Petronas this year - completed the same 25-lap distance, at the same Spanish track, in a near-identical 41m 28.333s. But the relentless improvements in MotoGP meant that instead of spraying champagne again, the Italian was left down in 17th place, a massive 22.7s from race winner Jack Miller. Rossi was unable to explain exactly why he had been far less competitive than nine months ago, given the step forward in pace by the...
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