Fiat Yamaha Team's Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo (Photo: Yamaha Racing)

When Rossi knocked Gibernau off the track on the final corner of the Spanish GP at Jerez a year later to take the win in the opening race of the season, he denied that he had ever sworn not to let the Spaniard win another race. This year at Qatar, however, he admitted that he had, in fact, said it and meant it.

He has also admitted to Italian journalists that he has never had a rival as 'hard' as Lorenzo. “The usual psychological tricks and games that worked with Biaggi and Gibernau do not work with Lorenzo.”

Over the history of racing there have been several long-term rivalries that have become part of Grand Prix legend, but there are few instances of teammates in the premier class battling for a title. MV Agusta Britain’s Phil Read defeated Italian Giacomo Agostini for the 1973 500cc World Championship. Agostini, then a thirteen times world champion, left MV and moved to Yamaha, losing to Read in 1974 (although he did win the World 350 title that season) and eventually defeated Read and MV in 1975 to become the first rider to win a 500 title on a two-stroke.

In the nineties Mick Doohan’s faced a dangerous rival on the other side of the Repsol Honda garage in Alex Crivillé, but, although he was beaten by Crivillé on several occasions, Doohan held the upper hand and won five consecutive titles before his crash in Jerez in 1998. Crivillé then went on to take the title that season, proving the wisdom of having a strong second rider.

But Rossi has clearly had enough of the situation in Yamaha and with the top four riders in MotoGP, Rossi, Lorenzo, Stoner and Pedrosa, all running into free agency at the end of 2010, talks have already begun and there are rumors galore -- the most interesting coming from the radio station of Rossi's hometown (Radio Tavullia). According to the unsubstantiated report, Rossi and Jeremy Burgess have recently visited the Ducati competition department in Borgo Panigale.