Aleix Espargaró knew how to wait for his moment. Although, perhaps, he could have passed before a Pecco Bagnaia who led practically the entire race, the Aprilia rider knew how to save his ace up his sleeve just for when the current world championship leader could no longer reply.
In the penultimate sector, a few meters from the checkered flag, with increasingly pressing rain, Aleix took advantage of the speed he had been displaying throughout the weekend at Silverstone to open up the throttle, take the lead and score thus the second MotoGP victory of his career.
This British Grand Prix, which is added to the Argentine Grand Prix won last year, has undoubtedly suited him wonderfully.. And the truth is that Bagnaia can't regret his second place much either, since it allowed him to widen the gap a little more with his most direct pursuers in the table: Jorge Martín, who remains second, was sixth, and Marco Bezzecchi, for now, still third in the running, he crashed after engaging in a very intense duel with Pecco for many laps.
«It has been crazy, from the first round. Even starting from 12th place, I felt good on the bike, it was one of those days where you feel invincible. The bike turned well and had very good braking stability. The truth is that my plan was to overtake Pecco and try to get away, but, with the rain, I thought it was better to keep the place, let him open the track and have something else at the end to try to overtake him.. The last few laps have been very dramatic, many riders were following us and the bike began to slip. In the end, it was unbelievable”, said Aleix Espargaró himself as soon as he finished the race. His last move was completely masterful. For this reason, it is not surprising that many drivers, including Pecco Bagnaia himself, congratulated him effusively on his victory.
“It's been complicated, yes.. With the rain, I didn't know where the limit would be, but, as the weekend has gone, so complicated, finishing second pleases me,” said the world championship leader.
To tell the truth, Bagnaia signed a great performance almost until the end. He took the lead for the first time at the end of the first lap and, after a one-on-one with Bezzecchi, he won first place that he would not let go almost until his last breath.. The side-by-side fight between the two Italians, truncated in the end by the fall of Bezzecchi, was one of the many incentives that had a MotoGP Silverstone Grand Prix in which, in fact, the overtaking did not stop happening in the head positions.
Brad Binder and Maverick Viñales, at times, also came to roll as seconds. The most constant, despite everything, would be an Aleix Espargaró who would end up achieving a more than fair prize for his good work with the piloting. Above all, when, in the final moments of the race, the rain began to become more intense. So much so that a change of motorcycle was even allowed, something that, however, only a handful of riders would resort to. Among them, a Fabio Quartararo who saw how the fairing of his mount had been completely destroyed after a spectacular brush with Luca Marini.
The Marquezes
Álex Márquez, winner of the sprint race on Saturday, for his part, was betrayed by the mechanics of his motorcycle on this occasion. The one from Cervera had no choice but to abandon after detecting some problems with the change. And much worse luck befell his older brother, Marc, who once again hit his bones on the asphalt.
Enea Bastianini and Joan Mir, for their part, could not finish the race either. As for the rest of the Spanish riders in contention, in addition to sixth place that allows Jorge Martín to remain second in the World Championship, Raúl Fernández was finally tenth; Augusto Fernández, eleventh; Pol Espargaró, who was finally able to finish the race on Sunday despite the precautions expressed this weekend, the weekend of his return to the circuits, finished twelfth and Iker Lecuona, for his part, closed the standings with his seventeenth place.