BT Sport pundit and former MotoGP star gives an insightful exclusive interview to BTSport.com ahead of Sunday’s race in Aragon.

The king of mind games Valentino Rossi is losing out in the mental battle with championship leader Marc Marquez, according to BT Sport pundit Michael Laverty.

MotoGP icon Rossi is famed for his ability to rattle his opponents but has so far failed to get the better of Marquez despite a number of clashes this season.

The Italian snubbed Marquez’s offer of a handshake during a press conference prior to the San Marino GP earlier this month.

Laverty believes the legend has finally found his match in the rider 14 years his junior.

"Rossi is the king of the mind games," Laverty said in his exclusive interview with BTSport.com .

"He’s done it with [Casey] Stoner, his own team-mates and we suspect with Maverick Vinales last year.

"But his issue with Marquez has been since 2015 when they had the coming together."

On the incident where Rossi rejected Marquez’s handshake before insisting there was no problem between the two, Laverty added: "The handshake was a big talking point but it showed that Marquez never seems to get rattled.

"It would have been nice if Valentino had shaken his hand because the public may have stopped booing him but I don’t think Valentino has got into his head.

"If anything, Marc has got to Valentino in the fact he can’t seem to break him and he just keeps doing his thing every weekend with a smile on his face. He can’t seem to put a dent in his confidence and the mind games don’t seem to be rattling him.

"Marc is probably the first guy in years that we haven’t seen affected by Valentino’s mind games."

Marquez, who has won four of the last five MotoGP championships, leads the standings by 67 points ahead of Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso in second heading into Sunday’s race.

But Laverty believes the 25-year-old Honda rider will miss out on pole position in Aragon and is tipping another Spaniard to win on home turf instead.

"I don’t see Marquez as the favourite going into this weekend given the form that Ducati and Jorge Lorenzo are showing," Laverty added.

"Lorenzo was strong there last year and it’s a track that generally suits him so he’s the favourite for me.

"Ducati have got their bike strong on the brake and acceleration and they always have a good top speed which will suit the back grid at Aragon. It could be a Lorenzo weekend for me."

Ducati riders Dovizioso and Lorenzo are running out of time to close the gap on Marquez with just six races to go to claw back the deficit on the runaway standings leader.

And while Laverty believes there is still a glimmer of hope for the Italian team, he feels Ducati can’t afford any further slip-ups if they are to keep the MotoGP championship race alive.

"They’ll be ruing losing the opportunity to claw some points back at Silverstone [when the race was called off]," he said.

"They are now in an almost desperate situation but they have to believe it’s possible because just one mistake from Honda and they’ll have a chance.

"They know they can’t afford a Marquez win, they have to be chipping away at his lead and the pressure is on to keep Marquez behind them."

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