MotoGP Gossip: Dovizioso: Lorenzo’s Ducati influence exaggerated

In the latest MotoGP gossip round-up, Andrea Dovizioso has his say on the influence Jorge Lorenzo had at Ducati during his two-stint at the team, a decision on Andrea Iannone’s anti-doping case is expected and Valentino Rossi on his tyre life worries.

- Andrea Dovizioso says Jorge Lorenzo did important work at Ducati but believes the extent of his influence is exaggerated. Lorenzo partnered Dovizioso at the factory Ducati squad for 2017 and 2018 and initially struggled for performance before a breakthrough midway into his second season which saw the Spaniard hit a purple patch of results with three wins at Mugello, Catalunya and the Red Bull Ring. (La Gazzetta Dello Sport)

- Andrea Iannone’s defence lawyers have presented around 100 pages of evidence to prove he was an innocent victim of food contamination in his anti-doping case, with a final decision expected in the coming days. Iannone has been provisionally suspended since December 17 when it was confirmed he failed an anti-doping test after the steroid Drostanolone was found in his urine sample during last year’s Malaysian MotoGP. (GPOne.com)

- Valentino Rossi concedes he still has concerns over sustaining tyre life with his Yamaha over a race distance. The issue of tyre wear plagued the nine-time world champion’s progress throughout 2019 and while he concedes his fellow Yamaha riders have found a solution with the 2020 bike he doesn’t feel so confident. (La Gazzetta Dello Sport)

- Alex Marquez anticipates he’ll effectively be ‘starting pre-season again’ following Honda’s breakthrough on the final day of pre-season testing with its 2020 RC213V. His older brother Marc resorted to trying 2019 parts with the new bike on the last day at the Qatar test and was confident with the solutions gathered, but Alex is yet to test out the same setup. (Marca)