Jack Miller says he had to go “all out” on the final lap of the MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas to defend third from Ducati stablemate Andrea Dovizioso.
The Pramac rider inherited third after long-time leader Marc Marquez crashed his Honda on lap nine, but had fallen back from the battle between Yamaha's Valentino Rossi and Alex Rins on the Suzuki.
Miller was reeled in by the recovering works Ducati of Dovizioso, who started from 13th, and had to push on the final lap to keep his one second gap intact.
“I was looking for where the next guy was, which was [Franco] Morbidelli at the time, and I was reading my pit board,” said Miller.
“But I could see him exiting the stadium section in the long rights, I could see him coming out of the right before it.
“I was just looking at him, and then it changed to Dovi and I was trying to manage the gap as best I could to where they were and try to save a bit the rear tyre.
“The rear tyre was great all the way through, I was saving it for the last lap, and then I had to go all out because Dovi was on my tail.”
Miller – whose podium is his first since his victory at Assen in 2016 – opted to run the soft front tyre having encountered issues with locking on the medium during Friday practice.
The Australian suffered in the right-hand turns as his soft tyre fell away, and admits he had to “give the old elbow sliders a test out”.
“After speaking with both the blokes in front of me [Rins and Rossi], they both had the same feeling I had on Friday with the medium front, struggling a lot with locking,” he added.
“And in the race it felt a whole heap different, which can happen. But that's what we get for missing FP3 [which was cancelled due to adverse weather].
“Soft front was great for the first nine, 10 laps, but then I started having a lot of moments, especially on the right-hand side through the long sequence of right-handers at the end of the lap, and also through the chicanes.
“Every time I went to the right side it would sort of wash a little, and had to give the old elbow sliders a test out.
“I knew I wasn't going to be able to stay with them after the first moment. So I just tried to manage it as best I could, I could see I couldn't hang their pace.”
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