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MotoGP, Alex Marquez: "It was Bagnaia who tried to overtake, he knew where I was."

"He passed me on the outside, I was on the inside and he didn't leave me any room to move, I wasn't that far off line. I didn't know it was Pecco, but even if I had known, it wouldn't have made any difference. I wasn't aggressive, but the contact was inevitable. Marc's victory? He deserves it, he suffered to get it."

MotoGP: Alex Marquez:

Sunday in Aragon inflamed the spirits of the Spaniards who flocked to the circuit to admire the prowess of a perfect Marc Marquez on the Spanish weekend. However, while the eldest of the Marquez brothers closed the circle by taking his first victory in the premier class on a Ducati, thus returning to victory after two and a half years, his brother Alex, who started fifth in the race, dreamed of again sharing the joy of the podium with his brother as had already happened at Sachsenring. However, the dream was extinguished on lap 18 at turn 13 with a contact between his GP23 and the GP24 of Bagnaia who, moving up the leaderboard, had taken advantage of his mistake to pass him on the outside. The GP23 thus latched onto Bagnaia's bike and the two riders ended up in the gravel, with the Italian rider stuck under the two bikes. The two riders fortunately both came out unscathed, but the mutual accusations about the blame related to the event and its consequences in view of the championship will certainly be a source of heated discussion.

"Fortunately I'm fine" - Alex Marquez tells the reporters after the incident in which he and Bagnaia were involved at turn 13 - I went slightly wide at turn 12, it may have been less than two meters, but we were both on the limit. He decided to attack me from the outside, I want to be clear, in addition to not having seen him I didn't even know it was Bagnaia, they don't signal it to me at the pit wall. I had already started to lean and I was turned towards the corner because I had a wall in front of me, but the race was over for both of us as it turned out."

You would have made contact with Pecco in any case then.
"Yes, it would have happened even if I had been slower and also I was coming back in because I was slightly off line. Pecco decided to make that overtake from the outside, it was a brave move on his part, he knew where I was and he could have left me at least a meter. If anyone could have avoided the impact it was him, I didn't see him coming and I certainly didn't expect contact. We ended up dangerously close to the wall."

Pecco's version is that having gone wide you should have been more careful in getting back into the line.
"I would have agreed with him if I had gone off the track and re-entered from the green. He's the one who tried to overtake so he should have paid more attention, and having tried the attack from the outside he couldn't have not known that whoever was on the inside wouldn't have been able to close the line completely, he didn't leave me any room to maneuver and I wasn't that far from the center of the line. I think he could have passed me somewhere else as well, and that's what I said in race direction as well. Everyone obviously has their own opinion, the result however does not change, zero points for both of us."

You said you didn't know it was Bagnaia. If you had known, would it have changed anything?
"No, but I wanted to specify it to avoid controversy about having to pay more attention to who is fighting for the championship. I didn't know I had Bagnaia behind me and I couldn't avoid the contact."

If instead of fighting for the podium you were further back in the standings, would you still have tried to aggressively defend the position?
"In my opinion I was not aggressive. I had a similar incident in the early laps when Martin overtook Acosta between turns 8 and 9, there I decided to wait because I knew that if I tried from the outside they would be on me. I have the philosophy that no matter what position you're in, you always have to fight but again, I'm not stupid and I wasn't that far from the line."

You were called by the stewards to explain your reasons, did you have a chance to confront Pecco directly?
"We were both called, but we went separately and I explained my reasons. In front of the cameras in the heat of the moment I avoided doing that, but I have already talked to the Ducati people as well. With Pecco I have always had a good relationship."

Without this incident do you think you would have got onto the podium?
"Until the crash it had been a good weekend. I was managing the tires before I gave a last push in the last laps, I think I could have fought, especially here at my home circuit."

Did you have a chance to talk to Marc about his victory?
"No, I'm very happy for him of course, but I was too busy in the truck to handle this. He deserves it, he worked hard for this goal and he suffered a lot to achieve it."

Did the track conditions affect him in any way?
"The contact happened too fast, there was nothing that could have influenced otherwise what then happened," Alex Marquez finally clarified.

Regarding the incident, race direction, after listening to both riders, agrees instead that the track conditions contributed to the contact between the two Ducati riders, and that neither was solely responsible, thus archiving the matter.

 

Translated by Julian Thomas

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