Former MotoGP rider Marco Melandri has voiced strong criticism regarding modern races in the premier class, admitting he finds them utterly unimpressive.
Melandri competed in MotoGP between 2003 and 2010, and again for the first half of the 2015 season, securing five victories in the premier class. However, the Italian claims that today's races are quite dull due to a lack of overtakes and frequently large gaps opening up within the pack.
“I don’t like to make too many comparisons. To be honest, I don’t like it at all. It’s true that today’s races don’t impress me much. It’s no coincidence that social media and YouTube often broadcast races from 2006. Back then, three or four of us would be within a second of each other. Today, that’s impossible because of the speeds they’re going; they can’t afford to brake even a meter later,” Melandri stated in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport.