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MOTOGP 2017 FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 14 / SEPTEMBER 22-24, 2017 CIUDAD DEL MOTOR DE ARAGON / ALCAINZ, SPAIN P60 My Own Race: 93 MARC MARQUEZ 1ST MOTOGP "I'm very, very happy with this victory because it was a tough race," Marc Marquez said. "Yesterday I wasn't feeling totally comfortable with the bike, and today I was struggling again except in the warm-up; I don't really know why. Anyway, racing at one of my favorite tracks, close to my home and in front of my fans, gave me extra motivation. I pushed hard and in some corners I just clicked the off-button in my head, even if I crashed twice yes- terday. I saw that Vinales and Dovizioso were struggling a bit and knew it was the moment to push, so I did. There were a few scary moments, once when I was trying to overtake Valentino; he was tighter in that corner than I was expecting, and to avoid a clash I released the brakes, only to realize that Lorenzo was right there! So I went off the track, and at that moment I cooled down a bit, even if I continued to try and close the gap. Once I passed Lorenzo, I had to keep going as I saw that Dani was coming very fast. Anyway, that's the Marquez style!" 26 DANI PEDROSA 2ND MOTOGP "Maybe if I could have overtaken Maverick a little bit earlier I would have had a better chance to fight for the win, but well, I'm still very happy with my race today!" said Dani Pedrosa. "The goal was try and fight for the podium or the win, and we achieved that. So yes, I have some small regrets, but at the same time I couldn't have done any better in the beginning as I was on the medium rear like Maverick and wasn't able to pass him for a while. I also had to manage the tire wear in order to be fast at the end, which I was. I wasn't sure why we suddenly had some gap to recover to the front, as the others had more or less the same pace. Anyway, when I finally passed him, the gap was there, so I started pushing hard, made some good passes and a good recovery, and had a very strong race. I put a lot of passion into it, and this is good for me and the team." 99 JORGE LORENZO 3RD MOTOGP "It was a very tough race but we were able to manage it well, and in the end we scored an important podium finish," said Jorge Lorenzo. "This third place has a much better flavor than the one at Jerez because we finished very close to the winner and we fought right until the very end. It's a pity I wasn't able to keep the same pace in the last seven laps, but to be competitive in the race we had no other choice but use the soft rear tire even though we knew that in the last few laps the performance was going to drop." 25 MAVERICK VINALES 4TH MOTOGP "The hard tire was working really badly for us, especially on the first laps, but then it was working quite well at the end," said Maverick Vinales. "Not so much in terms of grip, but it was improving lap by lap, but anyway it wasn't enough. Folger used the medium tire and said he had no grip, so it was really difficult to understand which tire we could use. For other races it was quite clear, because we were able to do many laps on the tires so we knew which way to go, but here it was very difficult. I tried to use the same tire as the opponents. Normally Valentino has a good feeling with the tires and pushes on the hard option. For the next races we will have to work even harder on Friday." 46 VALENTINO ROSSI 5TH MOTOGP "I'm quite proud, because a week ago I didn't know if I would be able to race," said Valentino Rossi. "Achieving a start from the first row yesterday was already great; I was very happy. I knew I had to suffer in the second half of the race. I had some pain and we also suffered from the degradation of the tire. The work continues after this race. The calendar works out well for me, I have two full weeks to train and improve my leg's condition. After this we have Motegi, which is going to be very important, but we also have three races in a row. This will be very difficult for my leg, so I want to try to arrive in Motegi—maybe not at 100 percent—but quite fit."

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