To absolutely no-one's surprise, Yamaha have this morning announced that Valentino Rossi has returned to their team and will partner Jorge Lorenzo in the 2013 MotoGP World Championship as part of a two-year deal.

Rossi defected from the Japanese manufacturer at the end of the 2010 season and went to Ducati but the supposed dream team has faltered and The Doctor has returned to the factory with which he won 46 MotoGP races.

“This announcement is once again excellent news for Yamaha. In June we were able to sign Jorge Lorenzo for the 2013-14 campaign and now we are able to confirm Valentino Rossi for the next two years. In doing so we have been able to put together the strongest possible team to challenge for victories and to promote the Yamaha brand," said Yamaha boss Lin Jarvis.

"We have run this ‘super team’ together in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and during that time we achieved the ‘triple crown’ titles with Rider, Manufacturer and Team World Championship victories for three consecutive years. The target for the future is obvious and we will do our utmost to achieve our goals.

"I have no doubt that with the experience, knowledge, skills and speed of these two great champion riders we will be able to challenge for many race wins and for the 2013 & 2014 World Championship titles.

"The signing of Valentino completes our future planning for the Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP Team. Now that this is done we will put our 100% efforts into completing the job at hand and to supporting Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo in their search for race victories and for Jorge’s 2012 World Championship title challenge.”