Dani Pedrosa has spoken out against the way Valentino Rossi defended his position during the Aragon MotoGP race, claiming he was nearly forced off-track at almost 190mph.
Pedrosa was attacking Rossi for fourth place on lap 15 and managed to get ahead of the Italian on the main straight.
However, he had to narrowly squeeze through a small gap between the Yamaha and the edge of the track, with Rossi moving to the inside.
The Honda rider, who went on to take second, said Rossi’s defence was “not fair”.
“If you see the image, I was on the white line completely,” Pedrosa explained.
“I was on the white line and my handlebar was that [indicates a small gap between finger and thumb] from his handlebar, so I don’t see this is a fair move.
“You can go to the left but to go to the line, and make the other guy go off the track at 300km/h [187mph], it’s not the best thing.
“[It was] too tight, and not so nice, but fortunately I could go and pass him in that moment and then keep going forward to the podium.”
Pedrosa completed the race with the fastest lap and strong pace in the final stages, finishing just eight tenths behind team-mate Marc Marquez.
However, he only started his charge after spending the first 12 laps behind Maverick Vinales, and Pedrosa feels that was key in him missing out on the win.
“Unfortunately I did too many laps behind Maverick and there I lose a little bit of the gap at the beginning,” said Pedrosa.
“But later we both improved the pace, and when I got past him, I could really catch the front group.
“But Marc was in the lead already and he could play with the gap a little bit but I was feeling quite strong, so I’m very happy, I think I did the best race today of all and I’m very proud of my team.
“I can say that I’m happy because the rhythm at the end was strong and I could make a lot of passes.”
Marquez said he was wary of Pedrosa late in the race, as he saw him closing in.
“When I caught Lorenzo, I said ‘okay now it is time to push, time to keep my pace’, because I saw that Dani was coming faster and faster,” said Marquez.
“He was pushing, I was watching on the board and he was pushing and, of course, he tried to win.
“Even on the last lap I saw that he was only 0.8s [behind], I mean still he believed but I was trying to manage the risk with the distance.”