Brivio: Rossi will not retire

Valentino Rossi's manager Davide Brivio has firmly rejected suggestions that the seven time MotoGP champion might retire following the tragic death of Marco Simoncelli in Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang.

24-year-old Italian Simoncelli, a close friend of Rossi, was killed after falling on the second lap of the race and then sliding across in front of Colin Edwards and Rossi, who had no chance to avoid the Gresini Honda rider.

"Many are asking about Vale stopping races. This [is] absolutely [not] true and I'm sorry even that I have to explain it..." Brivio, team manager for Rossi during his Yamaha years, wrote on his Twitter page (@Davide_Brivio)

Rossi described Simoncelli as 'like a youngest brother' in a Twitter message of his own late last night, which has been the Ducati rider's only public comment since the accident.

Rossi is nearing the end of the first year of a two-year contract with Ducati.