Francesco Bagnaia says he needed a one second gap heading into the final lap of the US MotoGP sprint to hold off Aprilia’s Jorge Martin.
Lining up fourth on the grid, Bagnaia made a brilliant start as he led coming out of turn one as Pedro Acosta and polesitter Fabio Di Giannantonio went deep into the first corner.
Bagnaia then stretched away from the chasing pack, building a gap of over one second which he maintained until the closing stages.
However, the two-time MotoGP champion, who decided to use a soft rear tyre like most of the field, ran into grip issues in the final few laps. That allowed Martin to close in and eventually make a race-winning overtake at turn 12 on the final lap.
Despite losing the win, Bagnaia was still pleased with second, and said this when speaking to MotoGP.com: “I’m happy! I think [that[ me and the team deserved a lot this result.
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“Unluckily I started to struggle a bit too much with the rear after five laps. Then in the last five I tried not to lose too much time but in the last two [laps] it was completely vibrating on the entry to the corners.
“We have been working hard since the first test and luckily we did a very good job this weekend.
“The potential is there. We just need to do a very good job in the race to try and finish this weekend in the best way possible.”
Francesco Bagnaia, 2026 US MotoGP
© Gold and Goose
Asked when he thought he might be at risk of losing the race, Bagnaia added: “After five laps Jorge [Martin] was still there and not that far [behind].
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“I was struggling a bit and I knew he was with the medium. I said; ‘maybe if I arrived in the last lap with more than one second [advantage] I can win’.
“If he was within one second when starting the last lap it would be difficult and it was like this. I was struggling a lot in the left corners.
“Maybe I pushed a bit too much in the first laps but it’s what it is. We will improve for the next race.”
Although this weekend’s United States Grand Prix is only round three of 22, Bagnaia feels he needs to become more consistent if he’s going to battle for the title, despite the championship being wide open after Marco Bezzecchi fell from second place.
Bagnaia said: “Right now, all the other manufacturers have improved a lot and we are still struggling a bit.
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“I think the championship is much more open than in the past. Right now I’m quite out of the fight for it because we need more consistency.”
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