Many took the renewal of Maverick Vinales with Aprilia as a fact in view of next season, even more so with the retirement of Aleix Espargaro. Massimo Rivola himself had hinted to Barcelona that he was done, but the Spaniard had denied it and the tension had increased until his farewell was confirmed. Vinalea will go to Tech 3, where he will have official treatment from KTM, as will Enea Bastianini.
Thus, upon his arrival in Assen, there were many questions about his exit from the Noale manufacturer. Vinales did not shy away from giving explanations in the press conference on Thursday, in which he explained that he had made this decision instinctively, thinking about what could be the reference bike in MotoGP in the future or the most suitable for his riding style . These questions have been answered in the RC-16.
“One of the main reasons for my farewell to Aprilia is that I like to follow my instinct,” the Catalan began. “I am able to have a vision of what bike I want to have in the future and I think this was the right decision. Given the potential I can achieve, like in Austin, I want to do it in more races. This weighed on my decision. It is a challenge that I want to face and achieve. I bet everything on performance and riding, this is the best bet I can make in terms of project and competition.”
“It’s difficult to understand which brand is doing better or worse, and it’s not even right for me to say who is better or worse, because I’ve been here for four years and I’m no one to judge. But quite simply I stuck with what was the best option for me and, by telling the truth, I saw clearly. It’s hard not to say anything else, because my intuition has been based on trying to understand what the next big bike in the championship will be,” he continued.
Furthermore, the #12 underlined the impact that the performance in the American Grand Prix had on him and the fact that he could not repeat it: “To be honest, my decision has been in my head since Jerez. I didn’t feel like I wanted to continue, because after Austin I was in shock seeing what I was capable of doing. But I don’t like doing it in just one race out of 20. I would like to do it a lot more often, because I think I can do it. With the market moving so quickly, I wanted to stay calm and get to the summer to decide in time.”
“But seeing that Aprilia was also moving very quickly, signing Jorge Martin…. It could have been an excellent team, with me and Maverick, but I had already decided differently before Mugello. I’m happy for the team, because it will have Jorge and Marco Bezzecchi”, he continued.
Now that he is more focused on this weekend, Viñales sees himself at the forefront: “We definitely have a good chance of getting on the podium this weekend. It’s a track where I used to go very fast, and the way the bike works this weekend year makes it suitable for Assen. We have great aspirations, but we have to stay calm, try to understand the situation, push the bike to the maximum and then we will see some opportunities and I think we will have to exploit them, because it seems that the weather will be stable.” he concluded.
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