Rossi: 'Dirty' Marquez 'has destroyed our sport'

The uneasy truce between MotoGP giants Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez was shattered in Argentina on Sunday when the Italian was floored by contact from the reigning champion in the closing stages of the race.

Rossi branded Marquez a 'dirty' rider after the incident, adding he has 'destroyed our sport' due to a lack of respect for other riders. The Doctor even claimed Marquez makes contact deliberately and 'hopes you crash'.

Marquez, the pre-race favourite, had already received two separate penalties earlier in the race before fighting his way back up the order from 19th to seventh, when he launched his RCV inside Rossi at the damp penultimate turn.

But there simply wasn't room and, in a repeat of his earlier infringement with Aleix Espargaro, Marquez ended up ramming the Italian.

Both stayed upright, but Rossi ran wide onto the wet grass and fell. He remounted to finish 19th while Marquez was relegated from fifth to 18th after being slapped with a 30-second penalty.

"I'm okay but this is a very bad situation because he destroyed our sport, because he doesn’t have any respect for his rivals, never," said Rossi.

"If you take for example what’s happened this weekend, one by one these things can happen to everybody. You can make a mistake in braking. You can touch the other guy. Happens. This is racing.

"But from Friday morning he make like this with Vinales, Dovizioso. He made like this with me on Saturday morning. And today in the race he go straight into four riders.

"He does it purposely - and it’s not a mistake - because he points the leg, between the leg and the bike, because he knows that he don’t crash, but you crash. He hopes that you crash.

"So, if you start to play like this, it’s like you raise the level to a very dangerous point.

"Because if all the riders race like this, without any respect for the rivals, this is a very dangerous sport and it can finish in a bad way."

Rossi called for strong action from Race Director Mike Webb, saying he is now 'scared' to race with Marquez.

"They have to do something so that Marquez don’t behave anymore like this. Because this year first corner in Qatar he touched the leg of Zarco and go to Dovizioso. Here with Vinales in practice. Today with me.

"I saw on the pit board he go one-second faster than me. I was not strong today. So why didn't he overtake me in the next corner? But when he come to me, purposely into me, in my bike,  my leg, to make me out of the line and if I crash he’s also more happy.

"I’m scared on the track when I am with Marquez. I am scared today when I see his name on the pit board because I know that he come to me. So you have to think, to hope, that you don’t crash.

"I am not the Race Direction, they will decide. But like this, he destroyed our sport. When you go at 300 kilometres per hour on the track, you have to have a respect for your rival. You have to be strong. You have to make the maximum. But like this, is over."

Despite those words it is highly unlikely that further action will be considered by Race Direction, since they have already given a 30-second penalty (effectively a post-race ride-through) and cannot hand out a second punishment for the same offence. 

In a role-reversal of their infamous Sepang 2015 collision, this time it was Marquez who was looking back at his opponent on the ground as he rode away.

"When he did it, it’s like I laugh, because it’s too much. I don’t have any relationship with Marquez after the 2015, so today don’t change nothing. I say just 'Ciao' [when we meet] because it’s more easy. I lose less time.

"But the respect is another story. Is something between you and me. This is dangerous. So he go into Aleix Espargaro at 200 kilometres per hour, if touch the handlebar, you crash, you go in the roll. So why we have to race like this?

"We are MotoGP and we are the top of motorcycling. If everybody start to behave like this, it’s like a destruction derby. Just him arrive at the end, maybe!

"But for me, like I said, Race Direction have a big responsibility. They have to do something. Sincerely I don’t feel protected from the Race Direction. Next race if nothing happen, he will do exactly the same.

"Also I don’t have fun to fight with him, because I know that he raise the level. He doesn’t play clean. He plays dirty."

Marquez walked straight to the front of Rossi's garage after the race to try and apologise, but the #46 remained inside and it was made clear Marquez was not welcome.

"It’s a joke. First of all he don’t have the balls to come in my office alone, but he come like always with his manager, with Honda, in front of all the cameras because what is important for him is this. He don’t care about you," said Rossi.

"So I don’t want to speak with him. I don’t want to see him close to me because I know it’s not true what he say to me."

Asked if he would accept an apology, Rossi replied: "I hope that he is clever enough to don’t come..."

Marquez admitted he made a mistake by underestimating the speed difference in the incident with Espargaro, but insisted he had done nothing crazy with Rossi, simply losing the front on a wet patch of track and denied the Italian's accusations that the contact was deliberate.

Marquez's first penalty, a ride-through, was for not leaving the grid after stalling and then restarting his bike.