Pedrosa: “Rossi’s strategy wasn’t to be fastest - he would block, agitate you”

Both men are now in MotoGP retirement - but while Rossi shone with seven championships in the premier class, the title always eluded Pedrosa.

The Spaniard was a three-time runner-up during his Honda heyday but could never pip the likes of Rossi to the top prize.

“The strategy Rossi used wasn’t being the fastest, which was my mentality, for example,” Pedrosa told DAZN. 

“His was: ‘I’ll go and, if I can slow him down, I’ll slow him down.’ 

“He would block you until you got agitated and made mistakes. He did it with Casey Stoner and very often with me. It took me a long time to change my strategy.

“He was preparing the bike to brake late. He’d fix the forks, start braking with an open throttle, and do it a little later than the others. 

“For example, at Montmelo in 2009, it was impossible to overtake him in braking, because he was braking 15 metres after the others.”

Pedrosa brought his own career to an end four years ago. He was a three-time world champion (once in 125cc, twice in 250cc). He won 31 MotoGP races and is the most successful rider of all time in the premier class to never win the title.

Now a KTM test rider, he said about retiring: “It’s something that knocks on the door, little by little. Or, at least, that’s what happened to me.

“Suddenly, you have a feeling one day, but you keep going. Then, a lot later, another call comes that you refuse. Then these calls become more and more constant.

“Until the time comes when you say ‘enough’. I had an accident once with another rider, and I had to have hand surgery. I was in the hospital. I woke up after the operation, and I told my parents, ‘It’s over’. 

“I didn’t want to be in the hospital every day, and that pushed me to reach the decision more seriously.”