Source: Supplied.

Movistar Yamaha’s nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi said it’s the ‘never give up’ approach of he and his team that boosted him to a podium on Sunday.

Rossi had to start his 2017 MotoGP campaign from 10th on the grid, but ‘The Doctor’ didn’t take long to cut through the field on his way to an eventual third.

“My secret is my team – it’s Yamaha,” Rossi stated. “We never give up and we always keep up our concentration. I always feel the support and the trust from all the guys around me, which is great. We know our potential and we know we have a great bike and race rider.

“Sincerely, when I was in the top five I already said ‘this is okay’, but arriving on the podium is something even better. I’m very happy to start the season like this, because the podium is always better and, like was said, it comes after a difficult period. We have to continue like this. This result is very good for us, both for our feeling and also for the technical side, because we now understand a lot of things.”

It was a strong way to start the season for 38-year-old Rossi, putting a challenging pre-season behind him to join new Movistar Yamaha teammate and opening race winner Maverick Viñales on the podium.