MotoGP: Valentino Rossi 'lucky' to see chequered flag in Jerez after salvaging championship lead

Valentino Rossi admitted that he was lucky to leave Jerez on Sunday having finished the Spanish Grand Prix after somehow emerging from a disastrous race with his championship lead intact, albeit with the top three now separated by just three points.

The 38-year-old endured a nightmare Grand Prix in which he was unable to keep pace with championship rivals Marc Marquez and Maverick Vinales, and also saw a number of mid-field runners overtake him in the closing stages of the race.

The nine-time world champion had struggled all weekend to get optimum grip out of his front tyre – along with Movistar Yamaha teammate Vinales – that led to a disappointing seventh place in qualifying at a track where he won last year. However, Rossi also revealed that he was struggling with a heavy vibration late in the race that caused him to run more than three seconds off the pace and left him a sitting duck for the likes of Pramac Ducati's Danilo Petrucci, Tech3 Yamaha’s Jonas Folger and Gresini Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, before crossing the line in tenth position.

"[It was a] very difficult weekend and a very difficult race for us," said Rossi. "We expected to be stronger, more competitive, especially looking at the results of previous years at Jerez.

"We struggled with the speed in acceleration. It was the main problem for all the weekend.

"And at the end in the last six seven laps, especially on the left [corners], I started to have a very high vibration and I had to slow down three second per lap. I was lucky to arrive at the end."

The same could not be said for Rossi’s former Yamaha teammate, Jorge Lorenzo, who achieved his best finish on the Ducati since joining the Italian manufacturer at the start of the year. After a difficult start to the year, with finishes of 11th and 9th in Qatar and the United States sandwiching a first-corner crash in Argentina, Lorenzo delivered at Jerez to go from eighth to third secure his first podium with Ducati.

The five-time world champion has a clear message for his critics after the race, with the Spaniard hitting out at those who doubted him for not giving him any time to adjust to the new bike.

"When I joined in 2008 in MotoGP [with Yamaha], suddenly I was fast because the bike was like made for my riding [style],” Lorenzo said. "But you know, in other categories took me a long time to understand certain things and with this bike it is happening more or less the same.

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"You don't have to doubt about my riding, my mentality, and some people did.

"They spoke too early and finally they have to take their words in their mouth because you cannot doubt about any rider in the championship.

"All the riders that have come into the world championship, they are very, very good and can be at the front - but especially a rider who win many races and titles."

Meanwhile, the first of two days’ testing at Jerez came to a close on Monday evening with Yamaha showing much better pace to top the table, albeit through Vinales and his time of 1:38.635, as he led Marquez by just 0.002 seconds, with Sunday’s race winner Dani Pedrosa in third and just 0.081 off the pace. Rossi continued to struggle though and could only manage a 1:40.463, leaving him nearly two seconds off the pace and 20th fastest.