Jorge Lorenzo on Valentino Rossi: “I used media to make him feel inferior”

Lorenzo and Rossi were notoriously separated by a wall in the Yamaha garage that they shared - a symbol of an uneasy relationship as they battled for MotoGP dominance.

Rossi ended his career as a seven-time premier class champion, Lorenzo racked up three titles - the most infamous of which was in 2015, when Lorenzo took advantage of a controversial clash between Rossi and Marc Marquez.

“I was looking for that rivalry, because having an enemy motivated me,” Lorenzo told DAZN about Rossi.

"Vale and I didn't fight on track in 2015. Although the rivalry was felt. 

“Sometimes I won, other times he won, but the competition was noticeable in the environment until the end.

“It was chewed up by the media. I said something, he did too, I replied... 

“In the press it was said that we did not get along and that we did not speak to each other." 

Lorenzo explained an incident where, ahead of the season-finale race in Valencia, he approached a journalist to request a specific question was asked to irritate Rossi.

"At the airport I told her that at the press conference she had to ask me if Valentino deserved the title,” Lorenzo said. 

“For me it would not have been deserved. I wanted to put pressure on him to feel inferior. 

“I also created that rivalry through the press."

Lorenzo also spoke about his rivalry with Dani Pedrosa: "We were both Spaniards, I remember that in the Spanish press there were more than 250 people talking about MotoGP. 

“In 2003, when we crossed paths in the paddock, Dani didn't even look at me, we didn't say goodbye, neither with him nor with Alberto (Puig). 

“We went to Malaysia, he won the championship, in that race I finished third. And in that moment of euphoria between Alberto and Dani, we talked to each other. 

“Then came the race in Australia, and we never spoke to each other again."