Rossi claims Marquez is ‘destroying our sport’ following race-day clash

Valentino Rossi has slammed Marc Marquez for his ‘dangerous’ riding style, which cost the Italian a top-six finish in Argentina on Sunday, after the two were once again caught up in drama. Marquez punted the Italian off track at the final corner, with Rossi subsequently falling on wet grass. The clash has reignited the rivalry between the two, following what seemed like a period of peace, after the Malaysian Grand Prix of 2015.

“I’m OK, but this is a very bad situation. If you take what happened this weekend as an example, one incident can happen to anybody, you can make a mistake in braking, you can touch the other guy. It can happen, it’s racing,” began Rossi, who scored failed to score points in Argentina for the first time ever.

“But from Friday morning on, Marquez did this to Viñales, to Dovizioso, to me, and on Saturday morning, and today he went straight through four riders. If you start to race like this, you raise the level to a very dangerous point. If all the riders race like this, this will become a very dangerous sport and it will finish in a bad way.

“It’s a very dangerous situation and I hope that what I said to Race Director Mike Webb makes them take more responsibility, they have to do something. I’m scared on the track when I’m with Marquez. I was scared today when I saw his name on the board. I’m not Race Direction – they will decide – but like this he is destroying our sport, because when you do 300 km an hour on the track, you have to have respect for your rivals.

Marquez was handed a 30 second time penalty at the end of the race on Sunday, leaving him 18th, somewhat ironically ahead of Valentino Rossi. This was the 2nd incident to happen at the track between them, when Marquez ran into Rossi in 2015 on the penultimate lap, between turns 5 and 6. The next race in the championship is at COTA in Austin, Texas – a circuit Marquez hasn’t been defeated at yet.