Rins came from tenth on the grid and finished the first lap in fourth at the 23-lap Aragon GP on Sunday before taking a lead on lap eight that he would not lose.
The Suzuki rider was first pressured by his teammate Joan Mir before Honda’s Alex Marquez chased him hard in the final stages but held onto his third premier class win.
Rins had a breakthrough in Texas last year after beating Rossi when Marquez fell from a commanding lead, shortening it by 0.013 seconds in a thrilling Silverstone battle last August.
However, Rins said his Aragon win was harder to achieve as “it’s easy to make a mistake when you’re leading”.
“This was my first race that I won as a winner,” said the eighth MotoGP winner in 2020.
“I fought the last two victories with Valentino and Marc.
“But this one was a little tougher in my opinion because it’s easy to make a mistake when you’re leading the race.
“I tried to keep my calm and did pretty well.
“It was difficult because I saw on the pit board that Joan and Alex were coming very quickly, but I tried to keep my calm and keep the tires for the end of the race because races with the soft rear end can’t be held. ” the tire life is constant.
“But we get it. That first position for me, Suzuki, we’re doing a really good job and getting a lot of podiums.
“That means they did a good job preseason and they definitely wanted it.”
Rins weathered a difficult campaign, largely plagued by the aftermath of a broken and dislocated arm during the GP weekend in Spain.
Teammate Mir’s form was mostly stronger, although Rins was at least second at Le Mans and had just taken the lead at the Austrian GP when he crashed.
When asked by Autosport whether his win in Aragon was a point for his doubters, Rins said: “Yes, of course.
“As you said, we have had a real problem getting this position this year.
“I think I had the potential in many races, but in the end first position was never for mistakes or falls.
“It’s finally here. I’m very happy about it because it wasn’t that easy, and I’m sure a lot of people have told me that I have to be calmer because I had two falls that tried to overtake in Austria.” [Andrea] Dovizioso and Le Mans in the wet.
“But I knew I had that potential and the bike too to do it.”
After Rins was a tip for the title in the preseason after a strong test phase by many, he still has the chance to conquer the crown as he is only 36 points behind the new championship leader Mir.
