Valentino Rossi said that ten minutes on the Mugello podium was worth all the effort of being a MotoGP rider despite some desperate moments.

The Italian started from pole position for the first time since Motegi in 2016 and despite having the factory Ducatis of Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso finish ahead of him, Rossi was understandably delighted with his third podium of the season.

“The ten minutes on the podium at Mugello when you achieve it in front of all the fans and the crowds is a repaying of effort that you do during the year, training and travelling to make it possible,” said the Italian.

“Yesterday was always a fantastic feeling with pole position was a great emotion and was also crucial to my podium for today as I started at the front.”

Despite starting from pole and having good pace at the start of the race, when Rossi tried to go with Lorenzo he suffered from a lack of feel from the front of his M1, using the only tyre that would’ve lasted the distance.

“I went with Jorge in the first part of the race which is always very fast. Like I said yesterday I know that in the race we suffer more because unfortunately we have to race with the hard tyre in the front and I never had a good feeling during the practice. In the end we couldn’t make the difference, it was not a choice. To arrive at the end I have to use that tyre,” he explained.

“It was one of the toughest races towards the end that I remember because the bike was very difficult to ride with low grip on the front and there was one moment where I was quite desperate because I was P5 and thought it was maybe it’s not possible but I had small hope that Rins, Petrucci and Iannone had the soft tyres compared to me so I could have a small advantage at the end.

“I tried to use the maximum. In the end Iannone never gave up and in the last laps were very strong but at the end I arrived on the podium, which was my target, and I am happy.”

Both Rossi and his Movistar Yamaha team-mate Maverick Vinales had been struggling in 2018 but work done during last weeks Barcelona test saw the balance of the bike improve which helped this weekend.

“We have improved with the balance of the bike especially with on the hot lap for very good grip but in this moment over a race distance we suffer and are not so strong,” said Rossi.

“I hope that during the season we are able to improve the bike and try to fight for the victory in the second half.”

With Marc Marquez crashing out of the lead, the 16 points that Rossi got by finishing third saw him climb and find himself only 23 points behind the Spaniard in the World Championship. Even with the smaller gap, Rossi wasn’t getting ahead of himself by looking at the championship.

“I want to fight for the victory in the championship,” he said. “If you check the rankings 23 points is not a lot and my whole team at Yamaha will give the maximum but at this moment I am not fast enough for the championship.

“We need to improve, especially in the race, but being there is good because we don’t throw away anything and I am happy.”