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MotoGP Aragon race winner Marc Marquez said a tyre choice gamble was the “only chance” he had of beating Andrea Dovizioso.
The majority of the MotoGP field, including Marquez, used the hard rear tyre in FP4 on the tyre-critical circuit – indicating he would use that compound in the race.
But Marquez revealed he decided to switch to a soft rear on Sunday, based on his feeling in Sunday’s warm-up session.
“I got up this morning and said OK, I want to take a risk today,” said Marquez, whose victory ended Ducati’s three-race winning streak.
“In the warm-up I didn’t feel well but I pushed, I crashed and then I started to think why I crashed.
“Then I spoke with Santi [Hernandez, Marquez’s crew chief], with my technician and I said to him – and he said to me, he was agreeing a little bit already – ‘I want the soft rear’.
“Then we started a big meeting, discussions inside the team, with HRC because I did not try that soft tyre in the afternoon in hot temperatures but I said ‘I believe on this one, I can manage’.
“Another thing is [it] was the only chance to fight against Dovi because with the hard I felt good but for my riding style it was not working in a good way, especially on [corner] entry.
“I knew here I would have a great chance, but all weekend I was fast but Dovi was very, very fast – [he] was the strongest guy.”
Marquez was involved in exciting late-race duels with Dovizioso in last year’s Austrian and Japanese races, as well as this year in Qatar, but on all three occasions lost out to his Ducati rival.
Having jostled with Dovizioso for the majority of the Aragon race, Marquez made a decisive move for the lead with two laps to go, eventually winning by 0.648 seconds.
“[It] was a great fight, great movement on the limit but always with that respect,” said Marquez.
“But this time I said I will not wait until the last corner, I will attack before because it was the only chance to win the race.
“When I was behind him in the race I felt really good, really smooth, he really push a lot mid-race.
“Then I said ‘OK, now it is time to push’. I was able to follow him and then I started to see he was sliding too much, more than usual.”