Maverick Vinales admitted that “a lot of pressure went out” after he crossed the finish line first in MotoGP’s Dutch TT and scored Yamaha’s first win of 2019.
Vinales emerged victorious in a three-way fight, which included Marc Marquez and Fabio Quartararo, to win at Assen for his sixth career MotoGP top-class win and his fifth with Yamaha.
The factory Yamaha rider’s win came after a difficult start to the 2019 campaign as he had been taken out by other riders in three of the races, most recently by Jorge Lorenzo in Barcelona.
“Amazing, amazing because I’ve been passing very tough moments,” Vinales said of his Assen triumph, which means he is still the only Yamaha rider to win since Valentino Rossi in 2017, a feat he described as “unbelievable”.
“I’ve been knocked out in two races, and then the jump start in Austin which was the race I felt most prepared.
“Also in Montmelo I think we had the opportunity for the win.
“I was very happy when I crossed the line, a lot of pressure went out.”
Vinales added that he did not expect to have such strong pace as he was anticipating being less competitive in the race, which has been a trend for the Spanish rider in recent years.
“[It is] difficult to believe, because I thought I could not make this pace because in the warm-up I was not bad with used tyres, but we know always from the warm-up to the race we miss [a few] tenths.
“But finally was hitting [1m33s laps] all the time, and I was very happy.
“Qualifying was good so I knew if I was in the front row I had the opportunity to win the race.
“I knew I had the hard tyre on the rear so [I had] potential the last 10 laps, so I was pushing at the correct moment.
“The best feeling is that finally the job [has] been done from Friday to Sunday and that is the most important.”