Rossi's third place keeps him in first position in the world standings with 179 points, 13 points ahead of teammate Lorenzo, with 166 points, who stays in second place with a 48 points gap to his closest rival.
"First of all, the podium is always good, but you always want to arrive better than third." Rossi commented. "For this weekend I think third was the maximum we could reach, because Marquez was stronger than us.
"The important thing was to arrive in front of Jorge for the championship. I think we did a very good race, because we worked very well and from the warm up to the race my bike was good and I could push a lot. It may only be three points more that we scored, but it's still another podium and I extended the lead a little bit.
"The perfect way to describe the race is that "I tried to beat Dani". I tried, but on the last laps he was too fast for me. However it was also good for me, because he allowed me to get away from Jorge, just his slipstream helped me a lot.
"I tried to stay with Pedrosa for ten laps, because I knew that it was key on gaining some time on Jorge. Today's third place is crucial because Jorge arrived here with four victories in a row, where he gained 28 points, so it was a very important win in Assen and also to arrive in front of him here, so we extend the lead to 13 points.
"Now I need two weeks off, because I have worked very hard for this championship. I haven't had a holiday since the beginning of February. It's been all work; going to the gym, ride the motorbike, train. Now it's time to relax."
