Valentino Rossi will be looking for more answers at this weekend’s Brno MotoGP round after finishing the German race 20s slower than in 2018.

Rossi was mystified at the deficit, saying that he would understand if he was 20s slower than the pack that it might be time to give up, but the margin to his own race time from last season is in the bike, not himself.

“We need to find a way, we need to find our bike. Because if today I am as fast as last year, but I only arrived eighth because the other guys make a step and they are 20 seconds faster, you say ‘maybe it’s over, it’s difficult’,” said Rossi.

“But I’m 20 seconds slower than me last year, not five years ago. And I feel good. I feel concentrated. I feel motivated, but I don’t have the touch with the bike.

We don’t give up, because it’s true that I’m old for sure, but the problem is last year I was already old, also five years ago I was already old.

“But last year is only 12 months and sincerely I don’t feel in my mind that I give up, or that I’m not concentrating, or I don’t have enough motivation to arrive at the race weekend.

“We will have two consecutive GPs where it will be necessary to work well and get the best possible results. It will be an important second half of the season because we need to improve, and we’ll also begin preparing for 2020, starting with Monday’s test.”