Pecco Bagnaia fears Aprilia "quite far ahead" after "nightmare" US MotoGP
Francesco Bagnaia endured a “nightmare” end to the US MotoGP, admits Aprilia is “quite far ahead”.
Francesco Bagnaia described the closing laps of the US MotoGP as a “nightmare” after suffering a dramatic late-race drop at COTA on Sunday.
Following a last-lap defeat in the Sprint, where Jorge Martin’s medium rear tyre gave him the edge over Bagnaia’s soft, all riders used medium rubber in the grand prix.
However, the factory Ducati rider lost five places in the final three laps as his tyre performance collapsed.
“Honestly, I started struggling a lot, from the morning,” Bagnaia said.
“Already in warm-up, I wasn't feeling like yesterday; The bike was much heavier, and it was difficult to keep the same [corner] entrance speed as the rest of the weekend.
“Then in the race, as soon as I started, I felt not in good shape. The rear grip was a bit lower, maybe for the conditions, and I started to struggle quite a lot.”
Nonetheless, Bagnaia got the better of team-mate Marc Marquez as he settled into fifth, a position he still held when Marquez – recovering from a long lap penalty – attacked with just three laps to go.
That pass opened the floodgates with Enea Bastianini, Alex Marquez, Raul Fernandez and Luca Marini also overtaking Bagnaia by the chequered flag.
“I was just waiting until the tyre dropped for the others ahead, but I started to drop a lot. So without pushing a lot, I just completely destroyed the rear tyre,” he said.
“I just tried to push a bit with four laps to go to keep Marc and Enea behind, but the last two laps were a nightmare because I was risking a crash.
“As soon as I was leaning a bit on the right side, I was losing it, and I started to lap in 2’05, so very slow.”
Aprilia “quite far ahead”
14.5 seconds ahead of Bagnaia, Aprilia celebrated another one-two finish with title leaders Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin.
"Aprilia has taken a huge step forward this year; they've improved a lot,” GPOne.com quotes Bagnaia as saying.
“What makes the difference is that they don't wear out their tyres even while going so fast.
"Aprilia is ahead, and quite far ahead."
Bagnaia is expected to join Aprilia alongside Bezzecchi for 2027.
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Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
