Valentino Rossi said he was riding “like when I was young” in MotoGP’s Argentina race, in which he stole second place from Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso on the last lap.
With Marc Marquez rapidly pulling away to take a dominant win, Dovizioso and Rossi were left fighting for second at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit.
Dovizioso spent the most time holding the position, but he was never able to shake off Rossi, who put pressure on the Ducati rider as the race came to a close.
Rossi made his move on the last lap at Turn 7, to which Dovizioso couldn’t respond to, and the Yamaha man secured his first podium since last year’s Sachsenring race in July.
“I am very happy for me, for my team and for Yamaha because [it has been a] long time that I didn’t arrive on the podium.
“I am very happy, we needed this result. We work very well since Friday, I ride like when I was young, I enjoyed it very much.
“The race was good, I expected to have a bit more pace than Dovi, but no, so I stayed behind but at the end I had two or three points where I was a bit faster than him.
“I tried on the last lap and it was good. Dovi is not able to do his famous cross [cutback move].”
Dovizioso said that while he was pleased to reach his initial goal of a podium finish in Argentina, he was “not happy” after struggling with his tyres.
“Happy for the podium, because when we came here it was our target,” said Dovizioso.
“But I am not happy in the way the tyre worked during the race and I had to stay in front to manage the tyres.
“At the end Valentino was able to study me. I couldn’t stay behind because I was struggling. Maybe it wasn’t the best strategy.
“I am not happy about third position because the second [position] was there but we have to be happy about the podium.”