Italian motorcycle ace Valentino Rossi has for the first time admitted he has little hope of winning back the MotoGP title he lost last year, after capturing five championships in a row.
Rossi's dreams of an end-of-the-season comeback went up in smoke when he blew his Yamaha's engine after only five laps in Sunday's San Marino Grand Prix.
Ducati's Casey Stoner went on to win the race and extended his lead over Rossi in the riders' standings to 85 points with five Grand Prix left in the season.
In what amounted to an admission of defeat, Rossi told Italian television that "there is no question they deserve the title, Stoner and everyone at Ducati. They've done an incredible job".
Nevertheless, the seven-time world champion refused to throw in the towel and said: "when bad things like this happen you have only two choices: give up or go straight back and start working even harder than before. This is what we will do at Yamaha: me, my team, the engineers - everyone involved".
"We still have fives races left and we will keep trying to get the results we deserve. We have a lot to do before Estoril," Rossi said.
The MotoGP resumes in two weeks' time with the Portuguese Grand Prix.
More than hard work, the Italian rider appears to need a miracle for himself and a run of bad luck for Stoner.
Rossi has not been on the podium since the end of June, when he won the Dutch Grand Prix after starting from the 11th position, while Stoner has won three of the last four races and collected 86 points.
The Italian rider has been plagued all season above all by problems with his Michelin tires, which failed to provide the grip of the Bridgestone tyres used by Ducati. This has helped Stoner collect eight victories compared to only three for Rossi.
"If Bridgestone and Michelin managed to be at the same level it would be great. The problem is that Bridgestone's superiority is incredible in all conditions so something needs to be done," Rossi said after Sunday's race.
