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Valentino Rossi believes he was denied a great opportunity to reel in Casey Stoner at the top of the MotoGP table when the heavens opened above France last weekend.

Rossi had targeted the French GP as a chance to eat into Stoner's lead and he began it well despite the wet conditions, pushing into third place ahead of the young Australian during the early laps.

However, the rain eventually forced the Italian into a pit stop and it was from here that he claims things began to go wrong, as the new tyres seemed to be too hard for the soaked track and he eventually came sixth in a race that he had aimed to win.

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He explained: "In the last five laps it was quite dangerous as it was very hard to stay upright and I think I lost five or six seconds per lap at the end.

"We had hoped that this would be a track at which we could gain some ground on Stoner and it's going to be a very hard battle from here because he is very fast, not just on the straights but everywhere!"

Despite his palpable dissatisfaction with the final outcome, the Yamaha man finished on a sporting note by praising the victorious Chris Vermeulen for his first win in MotoGP, describing the Suzuki rider as a "magician" in rainy conditions.

Despite now being 21 points behind Stoner in second place, Rossi can at least look forward to home advantage in the forthcoming Italian GP, which he has won for the last five years running.

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