Valentino Rossi scored a popular pole position in front of his adoring public at Mugello - but it's another Italian rider who will begin his home race as marginal favourite, as Jamie Klein explains. Rossi, 39, rolled back the years on Saturday with the fastest-ever lap on two wheels around his home track - although it should be noted that the previous record before the start of this weekend, established by Andrea Iannone in 2015, was beaten by all six of the lead runners in Q2. But pulling a fast lap out of the bag at the end of a pole position shootout is one thing, pace over 23 laps is quite another. And in that regard, Rossi didn't exactly ooze confidence about his prospects of a first...
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