“I was terrified of crashing again,” he said.
And then, if he wasn’t already worried enough, the usual Assen rain arrived, two thirds of the way through the race. Not enough water on the asphalt to reduce lap times but enough for Bagnaia to remove his tear-off, because rain gets between the tear-off and the visor, impairing vision.
That lost him half a second to stellar Marco Bezzecchi who revels in those tricky conditions. “When the rain came I liked it and shifted up a gear,” said Bezzecchi, the VR46 Ducati team’s first MotoGP podium finisher.
No doubt Bagnaia was doubly lucky that the first two riders in the championship had had their Dutch TT hopes dashed so early. Espargaró was convinced that he and his Aprilia RS-GP had the pace to fight Bagnaia and his Ducati Desmosedici.
“For sure Aleix could’ve fought with me,” agreed Bagnaia.
Espargaró’s comeback was old-school: shit or bust, rostrum or hospital, from eight seconds down on Bagnaia on lap five to 2.5 seconds down at the chequered flag.
“I had nothing to lose,” said Espargaró. “After Fabio pushed me out I saw P15 on my board, so my race was done. I thought, ‘Nothing will change in the championship if you score two or three points, so you need to go for more than ten. And if you crash, you crash.’”
But how could Espargaró pass so many riders at a time when overtaking is so difficult in MotoGP, due to front-tyre pressure problems? Because Assen is cold and very fast, so there are no front-tyre issues. He was also helped greatly by Aprilia’s new ground-effect fairing, which he raced for the first time.
The crowning glory of his race came at the last chicane on the last lap, when he passed Jack Miller and Brad Binder, another three vital points in one go.
“Marco’s in love with racing, he’s in love with the bike and he’s in love with the team”
Bezzecchi’s ride was also astonishing. Assen is probably the most complicated track of them all and yet the 23-year-old MotoGP rookie, who had never made the top three at Assen in Moto2 or Moto3, finished runner-up after just one dry day of practice.
The young VR46 rider has been gaining pace all year. Second on the grid and fifth in the race at Mugello, after leading the early laps, was his previous best weekend.
Crew chief Matteo Flamigni, Valentino Rossi’s data engineer for 18 seasons, is mightily impressed.
“Marco started this year very calm, trying to understand MotoGP,” he said. “He is clever and the thing I like the most is that he arrived at a certain point and since then he keeps improving, he never goes up and down, step by step always better and better. So today is the result of his hard work over the last five months. Now he better understands the bike, the tyres, the brakes and the electronics, working with the engine-brake and the torque delivery.
“He was very quick learning how to save the tyres and the edge of the tyres, by picking up the bike quickly. And he’s very fast in fast sections, like here and at Mugello.
“Marco is passionate – he’s in love with motorcycle racing, he’s in love with the bike and he’s in love with the team. He’s a very nice guy.”
Maverick Viñales’ first podium with Aprilia – exactly a year after his relationship with Yamaha was collapsing – was also important, even if he profited from Quartararo’s faux pas.