Miguel Oliveira completed today’s Sprint race in Assen in 12th place, but the truth is that the result could have been different and within the top ten. An error at the end, due to a warning he had, made him overthink, which ended up limiting his action on the track, at a specific moment, in a race where he had, he assured, the best bike so far in the Netherlands.
After a qualifying session where he once again did not show his best level, Oliveira felt in the race that the bike was the best he had so far in the round, as he explained: ‘It was a little better in the Sprint. It was the best bike that I have ridden so far this weekend, and you immediately see the improvement and that feels good. The pace was reasonable, from where I started, but it wasn’t, of course, fantastic and in the 31s like Pecco [Bagnaia] is doing, but anyway it was good to be close to the top ten’.
The position could have been even better, if it weren’t for an error at the end, not in his way of riding per se, but in his analysis of a situation, where he went too far, as he clarified:
– I managed to stay there until the last lap, but then I saw the yellow flag and decided to slow down, then I saw the green flag and thought: ‘Damn, I have to protect my line’. I overthought it, braked too much in the last chicane – because I had a warning for exceeding track limits – and had to take it super slow and [Marco] Bezzecchi and [Pedro] Acosta overtook me at the finish line. It was a shame, no points, but at least we got some data for tomorrow and we’ll try to improve the bike a little more.
