Marc Márquez did the unlikely, achieving second place in the French MotoGP GP after starting from 13th – the same recovery he made in the Sprint race in Le Mans, once again showing that he maintains his skills. He finished the main race just behind Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati), after overtaking Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) on the last lap.
The Gresini rider acknowledged that such recoveries are rarely possible, taking from this round the learning after a less good start from which he had to recover:
– Of course, that 13th place penalized our race a lot, but we were able to salvage – this time, next time it will be more difficult, because you can salvage once or twice a year. We learned a lot this weekend, because we made a change on Friday, we chose a direction that was not good. And then we recovered, but it was too late on Saturday. Then, tuning the electronics and everything step by step. In the Sprint race it was the first time I felt good with the bike. These two guys [Martín and Bagnaia] were fast from the beginning and have very smart ideas about what they want and need.
In Márquez’s opinion, if he had started in the top three, what could have changed would be race management: ‘Basically, starting from the front row might have helped me manage the race differently: we use the tire more, we use more physical energy – I was tired at the end. But for me it was more than acceptable. If on Thursday here at the press conference they told me I would finish second, I would say it was fine‘.
