MotoGP | Bagnaia, the defeat stings: “It’s a lost victory”

“It’s a victory lost, because I started first and finished second”. The disappointed face of Pecco Bagnaia after the Sprint of the Gran Premio di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini was confirmed by the words of the reigning world champion. A second place is a precious result if compared to the miserable point collected last week in Aragon between the two races, but after having signed pole position and track record the expectations were different.

But above all, it hurts because the one who beat him was the one who needed to leave behind him, namely his rival in the race for the title Jorge Martin, who in this way increased his lead in the standings to 26 points, at the end of a race that was in fact decided at the first corner, when the rider from Madrid showed off a sensational start from the second row and took advantage of his not-so-brilliant start. Once behind, the Piedmontese had to deal with the pressure of the front tire that rose and there was nothing more he could do.

“I didn’t have a good start and Jorge passed me. From that moment on, I tried everything to find a pass, but the pressure on the front tire went up and it was quite tough. When you ride with riders who have the same pace as you, it’s difficult to pass unless they make a mistake. It was tough and in the end I even had to give up, because otherwise I would have crashed. So it was a real shame,” Bagnaia said when he arrived in the press room to speak to journalists.

When asked if it was his bad start or the perfect one of “Martinator” that created this situation, he explained: “Both. The first part of mine was good, but I didn’t find the right moment to release the clutch, which slipped quite a bit. Once that happened, I knew that someone would pass me and it was Jorge, who made a really good start.”

If nothing else, the decline he suffered at the end was not due to his physical condition, not yet 100% after last Sunday’s accident with Alex Marquez, which forced him to use painkillers again today: “I had to give up because the front tire couldn’t take it anymore. I almost fell twice in three corners, at 13 and 15, and from there I had to give up by force. Physically, when I ride I’m quite calm. When I stop it’s worse, but who cares”.

Even though I’m not at my best physically, the expectations were really high. And that’s why the defeat today hurts so much: “I always ask a lot of myself. It’s a second place that after the Aragon weekend is fine, but it’s not what makes me happy, because we had the potential to win, but we didn’t manage to do it. I expected the pace to be like this. In fact, if I had been in front maybe we could have gone a little faster, but I couldn’t overtake him”.

Regarding the long race tomorrow, he doesn’t expect any changes in the hierarchy, although the conditions and the rear tyre could change: “I think the values ​​on the field will remain the same. We will probably change the rear tyre, which will come a little more in our direction, because the soft is very fast and consistent, but it probably moves a little too much and in a 27-lap race it can be a problem. Maybe with the medium there would be more margin to overtake. But it’s difficult to know now, because the conditions could be different, with cooler weather and rain. We’ll see, the important thing will be to understand them immediately and be able to be fast anyway”.

In any case, it will be essential to get in front and dictate the pace if the goal is victory: “This is a very particular track, there are no points where you can get close enough to overtake. So it’s a problem if you’re behind. If I had been first, we probably would have done the same race, but in reverse.”