Cycle News

VOL. 54 ISSUE 23 JUNE 13, 2017 P75 My Own Race: 04 ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 1ST MOTOGP "I'm so happy but also a bit surprised by this win," Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso said. "I had a great feeling before the start because I knew that we could be very competitive, not because we were the fastest out there on the track, but because yesterday we worked well to prepare for the race. It was a strategic race more than anything else and we were good at interpreting the limits of the track and the tires. The track was very difficult and all the riders had problems with grip, which dropped off a lot and so we concentrated on administering tire consumption and on consistency, and this decision paid off. In the race I was able to be very fast without pushing hard when I found myself behind Pedrosa and this helped me a lot in the last ten laps, when I passed him and then pulled out a small gap over the two Hondas. I can truly say that today we were on really great form!" 93 MARC MARQUEZ 2ND MOTOGP "I'm really happy with how this weekend ended because with five crashes, four yesterday and one this morning, the situation was quite tough mentally," Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez said. "Anyway, my team helped me a lot to regain confidence in myself and in the bike. Before the race I said to myself that I was the same Marc as last year and that my style is to always keep pushing and never give up, something I think makes the difference sometimes. So I started the race with victory as a target. At the start I was really lucky when Petrucci hit me, as the contact was completely lateral; otherwise it would have been a disaster. From then on I tried to remain focused and calm and when I finally passed Dani for second place, I tried to push to close on Dovi. In a couple of laps I realized that I couldn't, that today was Dovi's day, so I settled for second." 26 DANI PEDROSA 3RD MOTOGP "I'm happy with today, as a podium finish is always nice considering how tough [it] is to get one in MotoGP these days," Repsol Honda rider Pedrosa said. "Last week we had a ter- rible race, whereas here we took pole and made the podium in front of my home crowd, which was just amazing. To be honest, we expected to be a bit better but conditions were very difficult for the tires the whole weekend, and also today the grip wasn't very good. I tried to lead the race, to stay on front, but I could see Dovi coming on the straight, cutting the gas to not get too close, saving the tires a little bit better than me. I tried to save them all the way, but I just couldn't do it enough. In the end I realized it was more worth it to stay on the bike and get some good points. We had chosen the medium rear for the race and at the end it was on the limit, but I still think it was a better choice than a hard-hard combination. A rider's choice is more a matter of feeling than being strictly related to performance or durability. It was difficult, but we man- aged to get on the podium and this is great. We look forward to the test tomorrow, to take some additional steps, improve the feeling on the front, and work to be more consistent." 25 MAVERICK VINALES 10TH MOTOGP "It was a really difficult day, but there are some days that you just have to get the points and that's what we did," points leader Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha) said. "Tenth place was the best we could do, for sure that's not our normal placement, but for today that was the best and we have to be happy with the six points we took today and at least we are still first in the championship." 41 BRAD BINDER 18TH MOTO2 "Today was hard, because it was very hot," said Brad Binder of the Red Bull KTM Ajo team. "From the first lap I felt a lot of pain in my arm, and I even tried to adopt a somewhat different position on the bike so that it hurt less. But then my neck, forearm, shoulder and wrist began to bother me. I noticed that everything hurt a lot, and it was very difficult. As much as I tried, I couldn't stop the bike, and that is one of the things that we have to work on. We can have a bad race or a good race like Mugello, but whatever we do, we need to learn something from it. I know I need to work on the last sector, and it's something that I will try to improve on in the test we have next week."

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