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A lot. Morbidelli crashed. So, it was wet. If it kept the same as it was, then I would have won, but from one lap to another, it stopped. As soon as I exited from the box, I wanted, but understood, that the best option was to go back. "I was thinking more about the race than the championship, so I thought it was better to stop and I stopped. Next time I will wait behind Pecco and do the same." On communication with his team, he said, "No, we didn't speak about it [the weather], and I didn't know what was coming. Maybe that's why I stopped. Really, it's important to commu - nicate with the team, and maybe Soon Bagnaia was close to cruising, allowing the fight for third to close in. Suddenly, the top nine were together. And not long after Martin had run off track at turn 13, he was the lone lead rider to pit to swap to wets, with Aprilia Racing's Aleix Espar - garo and Maverick Vinales and Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) doing the same. And once Martin exited, he knew he'd dropped the ball. "As soon as I let the pitlane, I saw it was not raining anymore," he said. He later revealed that he and his Pramac Ducati team had no conversations regarding the potential weather conditions prior to the race. "It was raining. to the start, it was Bagnaia who led Franco Morbidelli (Pramac Ducati) and Martin into turn one, with Martin's brilliant cutback on his teammate through turn three setting him up perfectly for a move at the following corner. Pedro Acosta (Tech3 KTM), Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM), Enea Bastianini (Lenovo Ducati), Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM), Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati)—third on the grid, but desperate off the line—and Fa- bio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) followed. The lead pair came close to disaster starting lap two, as Martin narrowly avoided tagging Bagnaia. That freed Bagnaia up to the tune of six-tenths of a second, an advantage that would be short-lived. Morbidelli had stuck with them ably until then and decided to throw cau - tion to the wind—with predict- able consequences. He tucked the front at turn one, starting on the seventh lap, as the rain hit turn four with a vengeance. ROUND 13 / SEPTEMBER 6-8, 2024 MISANO WORLD CIRCUIT MARCO SIMONCELLI / SAN MARINO ROAD RACE I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP P100 (Above) Points leader Jorge Martin was doing all the right things until choosing to make a bike swap when it started to rain. It was the wrong decision and cost him big in the championship-points race. (Right) Things were sailing along nicely on Saturday for Martin after winning the Sprint race.