pair some real breathing space
before the race's big scare came
at the start of lap three.
Braking from 225 mph to 80
into San Donato represents one
of the bigger challenges on the
calendar; doing so when gaining
the slipstream makes it even
more so. Pulling out of the slip
-
stream from three men ahead,
Alex Marquez found his back
tire off the ground. Carrying
greater speed than those around
him, he just cut a way through
the men ahead before running
wide into turn one. Disaster was
narrowly avoided. "I was shitting
my pants," he said of the mo
-
ment.
That gifted Marini third, Marc
Marquez fourth and allowed
naia acted decisively, re-passing
the KTM immediately into Luco.
He was determined to set his
own rhythm up front. "With
Miller ahead I just said, 'No! I
have to be first.' Many were with
the soft, but I didn't want to be
with anyone early on." He would
not be headed in the 22 laps
that followed.
That said, for 13 laps Mar
-
tin gave it a good go. First,
he moved past Miller on the
entry to San Donato on lap two
before holding station behind
the Ducati rider ahead. It soon
became clear there were others
behind the KTM with superior
pace. The Australian's scrapping
with Marini through Poggio Seco
and Materassi gave the lead
Ducati), rather than Martin that
could put the number-one's
hopes of victory in jeopardy. It
soon became clear that wouldn't
be the case, as Jack Miller's
(Red Bull KTM) got the jump
into turn one from fourth on the
grid with Bagnaia second. Luca
Marini (VR46 Ducati), Martin,
Marc and Alex Marquez fol
-
lowed, with Bezzecchi eighth.
"From that moment, I under-
stood that my race was going to
be very, very difficult," he said as
the front-end stability that car-
ried him to second in the sprint
deserted him.
Knowing Miller, Martin and
the Marquez brothers had cho
-
sen Michelin's soft rear tire as
opposed to his medium, Bag-
VOLUME ISSUE JUNE , P93
93 MARC MARQUEZ
7TH/DNF MOTOGP
Marc Marquez pushed his Honda over
the limit and crashed out. "Today I was
riding really well and with some mar-
gin, I was feeling comfortable and not
stressed," Marc Marquez said. "I saw
Bagnaia and Martin had escaped so I
focused on staying with Marini in that
group and try to achieve my goal of
the top six or seven. I had a moment at
turn 10 on the first lap and then again
going into the last corner before I fell.
Right now, we need to keep improving
and keep working. Fortunately, I was
not injured in the crash today."
MYOWNRACE
Marco Bezzecchi was second in the Sprint race.
