The Catalunya GP almost threw everything away for Francesco Bagnaia in the fight for the MotoGP title. Right at the beginning of the race, the Ducati rider suffered a spectacular highside that made us fear the worst, but the truth is that he did not suffer injuries that prevented him from participating in the San Marino GP less than a week later… finishing third. Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi recalled that episode from the season.
The Italian manager stated to the championship’s official website: ‘It is certain that Barcelona was “the” race. It was the race where both riders had very, very bad injuries – fortunately for Pecco it wasn’t as bad as the initial image showed. Honestly, at that moment I immediately thought: “Well, the championship is gone, I hope Pecco is not too injured.” But in the end I believe he showed that he is a champion‘.
The San Marino GP followed, where, competing at home, Bagnaia faced the pain to finish third. Tardozzi praised this performance and attitude of the two-time champion: ‘Even recovering from this very bad accident – which is not just a fractured bone, it is like a mental problem because this bad accident was always on his mind and maybe because of this sometimes he was not at 100 percent. He was very proud of the result, while we know that in good shape he could also win in Misano because he is very strong there. But, anyway, we appreciate his attitude because after this accident it would be easy for several riders to think about it and not accelerate. But he wanted to give us and the fans the best possible result and I know it was very, very painful for him to finish the race. After the race he had major health problems. He competed like a hero‘.
