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Reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez believes he wouldn’t have challenged Jorge Lorenzo for victory at Mugello, even if he had avoided crashing early in the race.
Marquez had moved up from sixth on the grid to second by lap five, and was running close behind leader Lorenzo when he slid off into the gravel at the Scarperia right-hander.
He remounted his Honda but could only finish 16th, while Lorenzo eased to a dominant win.
Asked after the race if he thought he had the pace to deny the Spaniard victory, Marquez responded unequivocally: “No.
“Podium [was] possible – because after the crash, the bike was not perfect and still like this, was on a good pace, similar pace of the podium guys.
“But Lorenzo today was faster than everybody. He managed a lot the situation, and we try, but yeah, [it] was impossible.”
Marquez had admitted earlier in the weekend he “didn’t like” the “strange” front tyre allocation available in Mugello – and said after the race that his costly crash was down to him having to race the hard front compound.
“We tried to change the bike a lot during this weekend, to try to work much better with the front tyre.
“With the medium – that was the tyre that normally is the standard allocation – for me was impossible to finish the race.
“Then I was trying to manage with the hard front, but I arrive at Turn 10, I lose the front.”
Having tucked the front, he slid slowly off-track, unsuccessfully trying to pick the bike back up before finally falling over in the gravel.
“Of course today I tried to save the crash and I tried to be quite powerful to pick up the bike.
“But [it] was impossible because [it] was downhill and the grip was not so good, and I arrive in the gravel still losing the front.”
While he took encouragement from his pace after the fall, Marquez said he found it hard to avoid crashing a second time.
“Even that I was riding alone later, I nearly crashed maybe 10 times,” he said.
“This race was a race that we must forget, because, like I said, the tyre allocation was so special for us.
“It’s not an excuse because for everybody [it] was the same, but it’s something that, you know, with Honda, our riding style, we stress even more.”