Valentino Rossi finds a contrast in perception between his dominant Honda MotoGP seasons and that of current champion Marc Marquez 'difficult to understand'.

Shortly after Marquez's ten-race win streak came to an end at Brno on Sunday, the Italian was asked how he felt about the plaudits given to Marquez given that his own Honda success was often labelled as down to the bike.

"This is the bigger difference between my period [at Honda] and Marc's. When I won in 2001, 2002, 2003 with the Honda not everybody, but a lot of people - especially the journalists - said that I won because I had the best bike," began Rossi, who beat Marquez to third place in Sunday's Czech round.

"Now with Marc racing with Honda, [people say] he has won a lot of races because he does the difference! I don't know why there is this difference between me and him. For me it is difficult to understand.

"Maybe it is the rivals, because sincerely we are better rivals [to Marquez] than I had [when at Honda], because more or less we never complain a lot about the bike. When in the past I beat, especially Biaggi, he always complained that I beat him because I had the best bike [laughs]. It was funny!

"But at the end you know I changed bike and I won also with Yamaha, but [then people said] I won because I don't have rivals! So it is never ending.

"I think that Honda is very strong now, but you cannot say nothing to Marc because he won ten races. So for sure at this moment he is the fastest rider."

Rossi won three successive 500cc/MotoGP world championships at Honda, then a further four titles after moving to Yamaha. The Doctor is currently battling Marquez's team-mate and Brno winner Dani Pedrosa for second in this year's standings.