That would be a "huge mistake" only for those who are totally unable to analize the situation in 2007 AND 2008.
Lorenzo has good tyres this year ONLY because Michelin lost Rossi.

i really think you have a point there..and this is exactly what I think too..I am so looking forward to it ,i think it will be very interesting to see who will have the upper hand there.

I agree with you here 100%.

If anything what will go down in history is how Michelin were not able to get their act together until the Great Valentino Rossi showed them in the clearest way possible that they were cr&p and needed to improve drastically. It was the actions of that great man which brought about the turnaround.

What a ridiculous statement, I would say the domination of Bridgestone last year was much more of an incentive for Michelin to improve than the fact Rossi swapped to Bridgestones.

I strongly believe that Valentino Rossi leaving them was their incentive.

Rossi's insistance on leaving them was a huge public disgrace for them.

For so long they were happy to sit back and do nothing while Bridgestone showed their superiority.
They seemed perfectly happy in Bridgestones' shadow. Coming second did not appear to worry them too much did it?
Vale tried being supportive, he showed loyalty but in the end he had to go.
He did not just go quietly but made a fuss about the necessity to do so due to their lack of progress over the previous 2 seasons. Nor was he alone but others would have been more than happy to join him but that was not allowed to happen. Clearly after 2 years of false promises there was no way Vale could have stayed there and trusted them for yet another season.

Michelin then realised their mistake and that they either had to bow out altogether or really get something done. They chose to stay and therefore had to justify that decision by making some pretty impressive steps forward.

The backlash came AFTER Vale left. BECAUSE he left them. Of that I am convinced.

Why would Michelin bow out? This is the first time they have lost the title in god knows how many years, and still finished 2nd and 3rd in the championship. If anything it was Bridgestone threatening to pull out, because they were being forced into a corner by Dorna.

I agree totally with you vale made the switch for the right reasons he knows where potential lies and he is definately one to put it to good use. he is the top bridgestone runner look at stoner where is he, he is used to them and is way off the pace. Michelin got better for sure but bridgestone will see that vale needs a little more from them an they in turn will improve. IF he was coming in last then it would be a mistake but 3 races in its not justifible to say its a mistake yet.

Sorry, I did not mean bow out of MotoGP but bow out of trying to compete with Bridgestone and instead carry on plodding along at their existing rate.

Coming 2nd and 3rd in the championship is great until you consider that those 2 riders were desperate to ditch Michelin who had let them down so badly all season.

What I find "ridiculous" is the way you forgot 50% of the story that happened ONLY a few months ago.

I'm french, and I read tons of declarations from Jean-Philippe Weber (in french ONLY) where he clearly said that Michelin will do their best to prove that Rossi was wrong. And sometimes he was less polite than that in front of TV journalists.
In France, it was clear that it became a marketing campaign to prove to the rest of the planet that our Bibendum was not finished.
Losing Rossi did not mean losing an average rider. It meant losing the legend of MotoGP.

And yes, 50% of changes that happened this season also find their origin in the good results of Bridge last year. Not admitting this would be a "ridiculous statement". But that's obvious in a world of economic and sport competition.

PS:
If you have bikers among your friends, ask them what they think about buying rubbers that Rossi won't use anymore. Ask them what they think about higher prices for lower quality.
And trust me, I have no particular pleasure to tell that a french manufacturer is doing a bad job in his field.

No doubt they want to prove Vale wrong, but to declare it as the only reason for them to improve is short sighted to say the least. Rossi was a huge selling point for them, but even if he hadn't left they would still have improved, even if it was just to stop Vale blaming them every week. In my opinion there is absolutley no way Michelin would have stood still and risked taking the bad press from Dani and Vale for another season, regardless of the loss.