Rossi's missing white line explained.

In a follow-up to Monday's story (CLICK HERE) Bridgestone has confirmed that Valentino Rossi was using the softer compound front tyre at the German Grand Prix.

The softer compound tyres on offer at each MotoGP weekend are marked by a white line, but Rossi's front tyre didn't have such a marking.

"Rossi's front tyre was indeed the softer compound, but it wasn't painted due to an error in the painting process," a Bridgestone spokesman told Crash.net.

"This was realised in time to confirm to all the other teams that Rossi was using a soft front tyre, and the correct tyre allocation information was also distributed within the press room and paddock before the start of the race.

"Each white line is painted as required after the fitting process. They cannot be painted before mounting as during the mounting process the paint would crack owing to the narrow width and stiffness of the sidewall. Hence they are all painted in the Bridgestone fitting area on-event.

"Also, it is the softer option that is painted each weekend. In Donington, we are using the soft and medium compounds so the soft compound will be painted. In Brno for example, we have the medium and hard rear slicks, so in this case it will be the medium compound that is painted. This also requires a degree of flexibility in the painting process.

"The white lines are for the benefit of television and photography, and the riders do not rely on these markings to see which Bridgestone tyre options their rivals are on."

Rossi, who was also using a soft rear tyre (with a while line present), won the race by just 0.099sec over Fiat Yamaha team-mate and title rival Jorge Lorenzo. Lorenzo ran soft front/hard rear, as did Honda's Dani Pedrosa (third).

The next best rider after Rossi using the softer compound front and rear was fifth placed Alex de Angelis.