Stoner: 'Rossi quotes out of context'
"I still stand by what I said, but it's been over the last year and a half that it was put together."
CASEY Stoner has always had a frosty relationship with the MotoGP press and believes that his latest attack on Valentino Rossi leaving Ducati was taken out of context.
Earlier this week Stoner criticised Rossi for not putting the effort in at Ducati and failing to back up his and Jeremy Burgess' claim that they could transform the Ducati Desmosedici into a competitive bike for all riders.
Speaking at the pre-race press conference at Indianapolis, the reigning MotoGP champion said: "I want to clarify that. "That was a lot of context taken out. It was the whole last year and a half. I never did the interview and never said anything like that last week. I still stand by what I said, but it's been over the last year and a half that it was put together."
The Australian admitted, however, that he was not surprised that Rossi would be returning to Yamaha in 2013. He added: "No. I think, you know, after two years like this it must be difficult, must be a little bit embarrassing. He needs to understand if he's competitive again. So going with a bike that he knows he was last fast with and maybe the only opportunity for a different manufacturer on a factory bike.
"So I think, you know, it's going to be interesting to see what happens next year. But, no, not - it's not a strange decision after two seasons like this; it's got to be difficult. So it's better to try and be competitive again on something which you know he's competitive."
