MotoGP France, Bagnaia second in the Sprint
Starting from pole position, with Marc Marquez relegated to the edges of the points zone for almost the entire Sprint, and with Marco Bezzecchi overtaken after a mistake in turn 7, everything seemed set for Francesco Bagnaia‘s first win of the season. Instead, “Pecco” had to yield to the opponent he did not expect at all, that Jorge Martin, author of a stunning start, which made Saturday at Le Mans a revival of the 2024 Sprints.
Bagnaia settled for second place which still confirmed the soundness of the path taken in the tests regarding the fairing. After congratulating Martin, “Pecco” analyzed his Sprint.
Bagnaia’s words
“Surely something could have been done better. First of all, starting better would already be a good thing. I have been struggling in general with starts since the beginning of the year, I can’t be consistent, the bike rears up a lot. Today I had to hold the clutch a lot, and both Bezzecchi and Marquez passed me. Not to mention Martin, who did something incredible,” this was the comment of #63 to Sky Sport MotoGP. “After turn 1 I managed to enter very strongly and overtake Marc, but I lost the initial burst.”
“In general, today would have been tough, because Jorge had a lot and we were similar in pace, but I never managed to catch him. In any case, we made a step forward from the last race, we have to be happy and we are working well. Looking at the Aprilias, we lack a bit of punch in acceleration, especially at starts, while in race pace Bezzecchi and I were the fastest, in dry conditions we are quite ready,” he added. “Will this growth be seen in the next races? I hope so, I have never been lightning-fast at Le Mans and never won, so I hope this is a small step forward that will also help us in the future.”
Read more Le Mans Qualifying Analysis: Bagnaia King of T1, Marquez Never Consistent in T4
