Rossi gets serious for winning start

MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi's victory in the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday proved that for all his flamboyance and silly pranks he is, at heart, a hard-boiled racer.

The overtaking manoeuvre at the final corner with which the Italian won the opening round of the season would surely have received a nod of approval from another multiple world champion, Formula One's Michael Schumacher.

Both men know that races are decided by hundredths of seconds and there is no room for sentiment heading into the final straight.

Rossi's main rival Sete Gibernau was left nursing an injured shoulder in the trackside gravel as the Yamaha rider took the chequered flag.

The defeat leaves Gibernau, second behind Rossi in the title race for the last two years, trailing by five points in the standings but the biggest blow may be psychological.

Despite Rossi being on pole position, the Honda rider had the lead by the first corner and set a furious pace only the world champion was able to follow.

Rossi was rarely more than a second behind his opponent but the Catalan's nerve held and he looked confident of repeating his victory of last year as the grand prix entered its final stages.

Last year's win was achieved after heavy rain and in wet conditions Gibernau has always been the better rider.

But on Sunday the track was as dry as the Fino Sherry the Jerez region is famous for, and with two laps to go, Rossi attacked and passed.

Gibernau came back again to roars from the 127,089 crowd and the two traded the lead over the final lap.

The local man must have thought he had won the day going into the final corner but when he swung his RCV over to take the racing line, Rossi was still there and the bikes slammed into each other. Gibernau refused to complain, even if he was fuming.

"I have the peace of mind that I did everything I could," he said. "I just want to stay strong and calm and remain focused on our dream. It's going to be a long hard championship."

Nobody else was at the races with third-placed Marco Melandri, Rossi's compatriot and Gibernau's team-mate, finishing more than 18 seconds back.

Max Biaggi's championship challenge seemed to blow up before the season had started after reports of him clashing with his factory Honda team.

Rossi heads to next weekend's Portuguese Grand Prix in better spirits and showing no signs of losing motivation as he chases a fifth successive world title.

"For me, if we had no motivation given the pace of MotoGP at the moment then it would be time to change jobs," he said.