After the injury he suffered last weekend in Losail, Aleix Espargaro was weakened during the final round of the World Championship in Valencia and confessed that he had a lot of difficulties, especially on the left hand corners.
Analysing his performance at the Valencia circuit, the Aprilia rider, who finished eighth in the race, said: ‘It was very tough. I felt a lot of pain, especially after the race was halfway through where I could hardly use the gears. In the right-hand corners I could make up a lot of ground, but on the left it was a nightmare throughout the race, but I managed to see the race through to the end’.
If the pain alone didn’t help, this problem was compounded by another: ‘It wasn’t just the pain, but I couldn’t change gears on the bike and it was a nightmare in the left-hand corners. If there were two more laps I think I would have gone straight. I lost almost 2s per lap in the last two or three laps, but I’m happy because with five laps to go I was six seconds off the lead [held by Pecco Bagnaia]’.
Still, the balance is positive: ‘Despite the problems I was very fast all race, I’m proud, and my tyres were also very good, but I couldn’t ride properly in the last five laps’.