Bagnaia disconsolate: "One of the worst weekends of my life, nothing worked"

A dramatic race at Le Mans , made unpredictable by the weather conditions and ending with the triumph in his homeland of Johann Zarco . In the French GP , the sixth round of the MotoGP world championship, the Honda rider interrupted a streak of Ducati victories that had lasted 22 races (an absolute record that he shares with the Japanese team), defying the intermittent rain and keeping the wet tires from start to finish. This time the weather did not reward Marc Marquez, who had to settle for second place, which however allowed him to extend his lead in the standings given the fall of his brother Alex and the 16th place of Bagnaia, involved in a pile-up at the start and forced to restart from the back.

Bagnaia's negative period continues, hitting rock bottom in the Le Mans event, failing to score any points in the two races. Poor feeling, confusion at the start and problems with the bike: this was Pecco's race in France, who doesn't mince words to describe the weekend to Sky: " This weekend is in the ranking of the worst of my life . Now it seems easy to say, but I was on the strategy of staying on the track: I saw that it would never stop raining. At the start, I had a big spin and I had to close the throttle just before arriving at turn 1 where everyone passed me. Then there was contact with Bastianini, but when some have slick tyres and others have rain tyres, it can create confusion. Despite the crash, if I had restarted immediately without having to stop in the pits I would have finished in the top 5, but I had to stop because I had problems with the bike that would not have allowed me to continue the race. All negative, nothing worked ." Despite an uphill start (in the standings he is third behind the two Marquezes), the Turin native has accustomed us to sensational world comebacks, but this season seems to be different: " You can start the comeback when you have a feeling with the bike, but now there isn't . I can set track records or ride slowly, but the feedback from the bike is always the same: this is a huge limitation for someone like me who needs to feel it. This makes everything more complicated."

A crash in Jerez that in a certain sense conditioned today's race for Marc Marquez after the chaotic start caused by the bike change due to the rain. The Spaniard from Ducati, winner of the Le Mans Sprint, has repeatedly underlined how he learned from the mistake he made on his home track. " If I hadn't made a mistake in Jerez, I would have certainly made it today when I couldn't do it. So, I simply controlled Alex who was going faster and I was there with him because I knew he was going very well both in the wet and the dry. I didn't try to catch Zarco because I didn't want to overdo it ." He revealed to Sky how he never thought of going to catch the Frenchman, launched after taking the lead in the race: "I did two laps faster than Zarco, but then I saw that the gap with Alex was increasing. So I slowed down, but then I slowed down too much because Zarco was going away. It's a shame because for a victory we didn't beat Honda's record and it's destiny that it was interrupted by Honda ." It's all about concentration: " The speed is there, everything is going well, but it seems that when I trust too much then I make mistakes . It has happened in the past, but it's a mistake that I must not make in two races if I want to compete for the championship. We are working. Today the last five laps of the whole race were the hardest, because it's difficult to keep your head. If I'm not 100% concentrated, then I make mistakes. Today I fought with my instinct ."

The unexpected hero of the race at Le Mans is definitely Johann Zarco, who gets the strategy right by staying with the bike equipped with wet tyres and triumphs in front of his home crowd: " This type of day repays you for all the sacrifices made, even if I can't complain about what my life is . The crowd was incredible: if you don't experience it, you can't fully understand it. I dedicate this victory to my team, because I have a lot of fun with them". The confusion that characterized the minutes before the start seems to have spilled over onto the track after the green light: "At the start I missed the start, losing a lot of ground. At the first chicane there was a lot of confusion and I risked falling, coming into contact with Mir. I had to wait for the victory today, rather than go looking for it. I started to believe in it when I saw Miller fall in the rain, because he is very strong in these conditions."