Motorcycling: Rossi's challenge stalls in title race home stretch

Thousands of the faithful from his nearby hometown of Tavullia will pack into the Misano circuit in Italy tomorrow to urge Valentino Rossi to relight his fading challenge for the MotoGP World Championship on his Fiat Yamaha.

When Rossi won the 2004 title for Yamaha on a machine inferior to Honda's majestic V5 RC211V, many believed that it showed the driver was more important than the bike in MotoGP.

That belief seemed a bit suspect even then. And in 2007 it has become brutally clear that not even the 28-year-old's genius can overwhelm a better bike, better tyres and a fearless rider in the shape of Casey Stoner.

Stoner and the combination of the Ducati Desmosedici GP7 and its Bridgestones are 60 points clear of Rossi and his Michelin-shod Yamaha YZR-M1, with only six rounds left. Rossi, plagued by inconsistency in the Michelins and a power deficit in the Yamaha, has not finished on the podium in three races and has won three of the last 16.

"We had two days of testing in Brno and, although we weren't able to find the 'miracle' tyres that we were hoping for, we did give a lot of information to Michelin," Rossi said. "Hopefully, they will have been able to use this to do some good work during this week."

It somehow does not sound like the "glass half full" Valentino we're used to. Maybe the tax evasion charges levelled at him by the Italian authorities are a distraction; maybe he is disappointed that the new engine he tested recently now has to go back to Japan for further development.

Stoner is approaching the weekend at Misano, which suffered a torrential downpour yesterday that led to the second practice run's cancellation, with the serenity that has characterised his season. "If we do good work in practice and we have a good rhythm, we will try and win," he said. "If not, we will just do the best we can. Every race I feel less pressure because this season has been unbelievable."

Perhaps Rossi should concentrate on warding off Dani Pedrosa, 18 points behind him in third place in the championship.