I said before but I think the Aprilia's true potential is not met by the current crop of riders employed. Maverick can be fast on his day, but he's not all that. Maybe Martín is what they need to be a true contender, or maybe Martín has also been flattered by the Ducati and Aprilia's true level will remain a mystery...
The way MM caught up to Martin and Bagnaia showed at that part of the race that MM was way faster, the only question was whether MM had used up his tyres and the pass on Bagnaia show ed that he still had some tyre.This was pretty refreshingly honest from Pecco.
Francesco Bagnaia on why he lost French MotoGP win: “They were just faster”
Francesco Bagnaia says he couldn’t stop Jorge Martin and Marc Marquez from overtaking him at Le Mans.www.crash.net
Nobody is fastest at every circuit and he was the fastest and won at the last circuit. Good show here tok both the other two had a bit more. Interesting he commented that he was struggling with front feel at the corner Marc got him on. Makes sense as Marc did come from a long way back.
I reckon he had used a fair bit of tyre and wasn't capable of riding away.
Yes, good weekend if you are an MM fan but as you and I both say Martin didn’t put him 13th on the grid, that was his own doing.
I wouldn’t be so tough on him for the comment about other Ducatis being too good, perhaps he should have thought it rather than said it, but that attitude was pretty much shared by two of the top 4 riders for titles won in Mick Doohan and Valentino Rossi iit annoyed Mick that other Honda riders were given his set up, I guess because he considered his set up skills were a significant part of his edge. MM doesn’t care, and nor did Stoner, I guess both being confident no one could beat them on the same bike and having riding styles that couldn’t/ can’t be replicated.
If the bikes and riders are good, more bikes mean more chances to win. It also may mean less chances for the factory rider to win, depending on the spec of the customer bikes. I don’t really know what differences the current crop of Ducatis have or don’t. I also don’t remember (if I ever knew) what differences there were in the Hondas the year you mention. I find it hard to believe all those Hondas were full factory spec. Perhaps a better way to say that is I find it hard to believe that in prototype racing, Honda is going to give its’ latest and best parts to every bike. Yes, a less spec bike can win if somebody falls off or misses the setup. Otherwise the chances are not as good.
There was a time including when MM won his first 2 titles when only 4 bikes on the grid, could win, which has never applied to Bagnaia. On the other hand MM probably won at least 2 titles on a bike on which nobody else could win, and also one title hampered by a fairly severe shoulder problem for which he subsequently had post season surgery.
2002-03
Good observation, not long I suppose.
No. I did, apologies, mucked it up posting on my phone.
