Rossi: “I wasn’t as brave as Cal!”

A fast-charging Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) took a second place finish in the Czech Grand Prix, coming through the field from a: “desperate” 12th place near the start to hone in on the front and slice through to follow winner Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) home.

Rossi, who chose the harder option rear tyre but the softer option front, took some time to get up to speed before the red sectors started to appear and the veteran Italian used his superior grip to haul himself back into contention.

Rossi said: “At the beginning I was desperate because I thought we made a mistake. But through the race the harder rear was coming better and it was a very long race. You have to keep concentrating and not make any mistakes.

“It was a great race and I’m very happy for these 20 points, because now I’m second in the championship and I think today we did a good job. And we made the right choice on the rear tyre.

“Unfortunately we didn’t choose the hard front, that was because in the morning I already didn’t have a good feeling with the soft. I wasn’t as brave as Cal.”