“I don’t know if there is any doping in racing,” he said. “But more testing would be better for all the riders.” The authorities were working on it, he continued, and racing should be brought into line with other sports.

Rossi’s opinion was shared by others … that “in the history of motor sport there is not a high risk of doping”. But he was receptive for more testing.

As Marquez said: “With 19 races there are only two controls, and not for all the riders. We are just asking for more controls.”

There was a lot of doubt as to whether doping would actually be productive.