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It ended in the worst way possible, with Michael falling and Bassani penalized with a long lap penalty for the maneuver that knocked out the Aruba rider. The rider from Romagna didn’t mince words much to describe what his rival did.
And it was the very first thing Michael talked about his mate.
“I don’t think there’s much to say about this, because everyone saw what happened. I attacked Bassani at turn three. That maneuver was tough, but still clean. That didn’t go down well with Axel, and we got to ten.”
Michael goes into detail.
“Honestly, I don’t know what went on in his head. At turn ten, I was in front of him, but he aimed for me and made me fall on purpose. There was no room to overtake, but he did it anyway, throwing himself in. In all this, as if that weren’t enough, he didn’t even have the decency to come and apologize to me. I think that’s the worst thing. That’s the difference between a top rider and a normal rider. It was a shame how it turned out, because I had a good start and could have been competitive today with the Ducati V4. Fortunately, I don’t have any fractures after what happened, even if I’ll have to have some therapy in the evening.”
As we well know, there’s an official bike at stake for 2024 between Axel and Michael, and the Aruba rider took a dig at his teammate about this.
“Axel did a dirty maneuver, and I think he lost much more than I did today. He’s an independent rider. When he sees an official rider like me, he has fire inside him and has much more incentive to overtake a factory rider.”
Clear and concise, which just proves the message to his rival he intended in the press room regarding his ambition of a possible future as an official rider.
