Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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MOTOGP FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 4 / MAY 5-7, 2017 CIRCUITO DE JEREZ / CADIZ, SPAIN P90 My Own Race: 26 DANI PEDROSA 1ST MOTOGP "I'm super-happy with this win in Jerez, a track that I love very much, and in front of my family, my friends, and all these amazing fans," winner Dani Pedrosa said. "I'm enjoying this emotion so much, more than I would've done a few years ago, in a more 'conscious' way. We [the Repsol Honda Team] knew we were in a position to have the race we actually did. I felt the tension a little bit before the start, but I remained concentrated and got away well at the start and just went for it. Today the track conditions were a bit worse than yesterday and the front was sliding quite a lot. I chose the hard front because of today's high temperature, even if the medium was my favorite. The pace probably would've been faster with the medium, but anyway I was happy with my choice. When Marc started to push, we started a little battle like yesterday in qualifying. I knew he was very fast, but I was determined to keep a gap on him. It was easy to make a mistake, to lose the front, so it was a matter of staying on the limit without going over it." 93 MARC MARQUEZ 2ND MOTOGP "I'm happy with second place here at Jerez, a track that isn't among my favorites, and having been able to be competitive and fight at a high level is very positive," said Repsol Honda Marc Marquez, summarizing his week- end. "Today Dani was really fast, as he has been over the whole weekend, in the wet and the dry. We got closer and closer session after session, but it was difficult to keep his pace. Today I tried to push, to put pressure on him, but even before the race I knew that Dani is very strong here. He's also very good when conditions are really warm like today, because for me the front tire is too soft; I mean, I chose the harder option today but even that was too soft for me. I tried to manage during the entire race, and I pushed. In the end I had a few risky moments, so I checked where Valentino and Vinales were and said to myself, 'okay, second place is fine.' I'm very happy with the result, to be just four points off the top and to be back in the battle for the Championship. The classification is very close and things are going to be very interesting." 99 JORGE LORENZO 2ND MOTOGP "A podium here at Jerez, in front of all my fans and after three complicated races, is the best present I could receive for my 30th birthday," Ducati's Jorge Lorenzo. "It's a result that gives me more satisfaction than many wins I scored in the past, because it was very difficult to achieve. To finish third on a Ducati at a traditionally difficult circuit for the Desmosedici is incredible! Honestly, I didn't expect to be able to fight for the podium, and the choice of front tire was the key. The start was a bit chaotic because of the number of riders ahead of me but I didn't give up so easily and believed that I could recover to overtake Zarco and finish third." 46 VALENTINO ROSSI 10TH MOTOGP "It was a very difficult race after a difficult weekend," said Movistar Yamaha's Valentino Rossi. "I never had a good feeling with the bike and the tires. We tried to work a lot, especially to fix the spin and acceleration, but unfortu- nately for the race we did worse. We tried to modify it a bit, but I was also in trouble with the front. At the end I had to slow down a lot and had a lot of vibration. It was okay to arrive right at the end, but it was a difficult weekend for the whole team. We expected to be stronger and more competitive at this track, looking at the results of last year. We need to try and understand what happened, tomorrow we have the test and we'll see.