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Finishing third in the Aragon Sprint has a special meaning for Pedro Acosta. It is the fourth time the GasGas rookie has been on the podium on Saturday, but today there is something different about it."It's the first podium in a Sprint in which no one crashed in front of me, so it's the first real podium," he explained with a smile. "At Jerez many riders went down and at Mugello it happened to Martin."
It was precisely in Italy that he had picked up his last satisfaction after a complicated period in which results were slow in coming. Even this weekend, in fact, did not start on the right foot.
"Yesterday everything was complicated and it was my fault for not getting into Q2 and in Q1 there were so many fast riders. Then the Sprint was what everyone expected, there was little I could do," he joked referring to Marquez's superiority.
Pedro was not surprised by Marc's victory.
"It was to be expected, I'm happy for him. I think it's good for the championship, for us the young riders, for all his people. After the operation he had, he proved he has two big balls, and not just because of what he did today, but because of everything he's been through - Acosta acknowledged - How come he's so strong here? I don't know, I still don't understand how come Vinales was in Austin. He always did well here, like in Austin and Sachsering, I think it's a special track for him, like many others."
He then went back to talking about himself and how he straightened out the weekend.
"I got my confidence back and above all I rode without making mistakes," he explained, "It was so many races that we were making changes on the bike and I was making a lot of mistakes in the race. I'm happy because now I have a bike that I know, maybe it's not as fast as the one I had before, but it's consistent and 70 percent of the time it's better. I still need to improve, I'm still missing things in some areas, but I've taken a good step forward. We got the bike back to the base it was at the beginning of the year. Then I changed the telemetry technician and that relaxed us all, including me who now only has one person to listen to and not 50."
Sometimes going back on one's steps is a good idea.
"At the beginning of the season I had no problems in the flying lap: in Qatar I went straight into Q2, in Portimao I passed Q1, in Austin I was fast. Maybe this bike is not as fast over the lap as the other ones, but in the race I can be faster - he continued - I am happy because it was a good day. We were able to improve a little despite the bad track conditions, when there is little grip we can be fast, but we are still lacking adapting quickly when it increases. Today the feeling was the same as in the first practice session, the rain definitely didn't help, but the problem is that we had to do everything at the last minute."
Before leaving, Acosta complained about the track conditions on the start straight.
"It was a bit strange because so many people slipped the rear at the start, it happened to me, to Pecco, and I think for tomorrow they have to solve the problem because it's dangerous," he underlined.
