In front of a crowd of 104,244, the Ducati rider did not put a hair on his head and tried to turn things around after the disappointment of the German GP, when he had to retire early in the race. The Italian's performance, however, was overshadowed by a race worthy of a champion made by Aleix Espargaró, who had to mount a comeback after being pushed out by Fabio Quartararo in the first laps.
Aleix Espargaró was the rider of the day at the Dutch GP on Sunday (26). Sorry if you disagree, but in a year when many people complain about the lack of overtaking in MotoGP, you can't help but appreciate the citizen who climbed the field after being put out of the track and even beat two of the main late-brakers of the grid in a single shot in one of the most famous chicanes of the calendar. And that doesn't mean that Francesco Bagnaia, Marco Bezzecchi, and Maverick Viñales don't deserve more than honorable mentions.
The day in Assen was somewhat unusual. After all, it was the first time this season that Fabio Quartararo made a glaring mistake. On lap five the Frenchman tried to pass Aleix, but made what he himself judged to be a "rookie mistake" and crashed, knocking Pol's brother off the track.
MOTOGP STANDINGS
▶️ Quartararo makes mistake and loses fat MotoGP lead at Assen
The two still remained in contention, but 'El Diablo' missed the flag. On lap 14, Fabio was thrown from the bike, victim of a mechanical problem resulting from the previous crash, which damaged the traction control of the YZR-M1.
Aleix, on the other hand, shone. After falling to 15th, the father of little Max and Mia was rising little by little, showing a spectacular pace aboard a super competitive RS-GP. The most impressive maneuver came on the last lap, at the Geert Timmer Bocht chicane, one of the most famous on the calendar and stage for some memorable disputes throughout history.
In one shot, Aleix took the positions of Brad Binder and Jack Miller, known for braking too late. But the oldest Espargaró didn't give him a chance and finished fourth, only 2s585 behind Bagnaia, who dominated the race from end to end.
With the fourth place, he added 13 points, a difference that now discounts Quartararo in the World Drivers' Championship classification. "I could win, Fabio could finish second and I could take five points off, but I took 13 points off. It's not what I wanted, but it's not so bad," Aleix told Spanish streamer DAZN.
The Aprilia rider, who at the end of the race received the championship leader in the pits for an apology, admitted that he was angry at the moment of the incident, as he had noticed that the RS-GP was very competitive.
"I was very angry, because only two laps before Fabio hit me, I realized that I had the best bike. It was amazing how fast I was. I thought: today I win," he said. "When I realized that, it made me very angry," he acknowledged.
"There was a moment when I was in 14th and I thought: if I crash, I crash, because I was the ball of the match. In the end, the reward came at the last chicane. I didn't think it would come," he commented. "It's a shame, because you never know when you will have the next opportunity to win. Here I saw myself as I did in Argentina. I did what I could, a brutal comeback, overtaking very fast drivers," he stressed.
Coming from a retirement in Germany, Francesco Bagnaia led the race from end to end, but not without scares. Especially when the rain flags started to be displayed.
"It was scary, very scary. Even though we always say that we have to finish the race and that any result is good, today we had to win, or at least try to recover some points," Francesco said. "I could only look at the screen once and Aleix was on the gravel and a blue one on the ground, so I figured it was Fabio and Aleix, so we were a bit lucky," he stressed.
"Still, I thought, 'well, I can be more relaxed, I can do my race more calmly'. But seeing the difference with Marco Bezzecchi, it was always very tight," reported the Italian, who was unable to break through the peloton in a decisive manner, which has always had the VR46 starter relatively close by. "I had to push again, to open that gap again to be smarter and be more relaxed in the final part of the race," he pointed out.
"Then the rain came. When I saw that it was raining, I lowered the pace a little bit, but Bezzecchi was pushing again. So it was very difficult. Falling again terrified me, so the main thing was to finish. It wasn't easy, but I tried to be intelligent, I tried not to exceed the limit", he explained.
"The problem was that I saw the rain and thought it was worse than it actually was. The thing is that when it rains, it's a fine rain, and you're with the overscreen, it fogs up a bit, so you can't see things clearly, so I took the plastic off and lost five or six tenths. I lost a lot of time, and Bezzecchi was catching up with me almost as if it wasn't raining. I was pushing without pushing, because when it rains, you can't take the corners as normal. But I found the way to drive and it went well. I was lucky, because I have people by my side to help me: my girlfriend, my family, and my team, everyone. And to see that I am fast too, because in the end you always have to believe in yourself. I know that when I arrive at the circuit, if I work in the right way, I have the possibility to fight for the victory or the podium," he closed.
MotoGP is now on vacation and will resume on August 7, with the British GP at Silverstone.GRANDE PRÊMIO is following all the activities of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship.