French Grand Prix winner Marc Marquez admits he was wary of the threat posed by MotoGP rival Andrea Dovizioso, whom he felt had “special pace” before he crashed out.
Ducati's Dovizioso led Marquez at the end of Friday's practice sessions, though could only manage fifth in qualifying while the Honda rider only just missed out pole.
Despite this, Marquez knew Dovizioso's pace over long runs would make him “the guy” most likely to challenge him come Sunday's race, and confirmed this after following the Ducati rider for several laps in warm-up.
With Marquez aware his hard rear tyre would take a couple of laps to come up to working temperature, he knew the soft-shod Dovizioso – who crashed while leading on lap five – would try to break away early on.
“Before the race, in the warm-up, we were a few laps together, and we understand that we were very equal,” he said.
“For that reason, the tyre choice, his strategy, I think was to push in the beginning because the hard tyre takes two, three laps to get on the correct temperature.
“He was pushing a lot more than normal, normally Dovi is pushing in the beginning, but then stay there and manage the tyres.
“But you saw he tried to lead the race immediately because he knew I was far and I was coming when the tyre had the correct temperature.
“For that reason, I was looking at him because he was the guy. During all the weekend he had a special pace.
“I say yesterday in the press conference the fastest guy was not here, was in the second row.”
Petrucci: I don't know who can beat Marquez
Second-placed Danilo Petrucci kept Marquez honest for much of the race, matching his laptimes up until the final handful of laps.
Despite his strong pace relative to the Spaniard – who now holds a 36-point lead in the standings – Petrucci isn't sure the Honda rider can be stopped, having built up such a sizeable championship advantage after just five races.
“I think in some races last year he was more in trouble compared to Yamaha and Ducati with his bike, so his fight lasted for all the season,” the Italian stated.
“This year I think Honda made a step ahead, and for sure he can ride the bike better, but the other Hondas were far from him today.
“So maybe the Honda is better, but even he can ride the bike better at this moment. I cannot say who can stop him, because he has 36 points at the fifth race, so at this moment I don't know who can beat him.”
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