Aleix Espargaro says he is “more frustrated than ever” on his Grand Prix retirement in France after a problem with his Aprilia MotoGP bike forced him on lap 16 of 27.
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Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
The Aprilia rider was strong in the top 7 at the start of the race, but dropped back to 12th place after changing flags from flag to flag.
Espargaro’s RS-GP was able to recover to sixth place in wet conditions and ran out on lap 16 due to an unknown technical problem. Teammate Lorenzo Savadori suffered a similar fate on lap 12.
“Yes, I am very frustrated, more than ever, because this weekend at Le Mans was so difficult,” said Espargaro.
“I had a very tricky beginning of the weekend, [on Saturday] We had a problem with an engine and I crashed twice.
“We start in P13, it goes from flag to flag, but honestly I’m very proud of my level, because I had a good start in the dry, I felt very strong in the dry.
“I couldn’t do a lot of laps, but I knew why I won’t be fast when I’m fast on the other tracks.
“So I started out very confident of myself and felt very, very strong.
“Before the rain started, I caught Marc [Marquez] and [Takaaki] Nakagami, [Alex] Rins was a little faster, but Rins was already in P3 or P4.
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Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“So I’m very confident and when it started to rain I was very angry.
“I rode the rain bike, lost a lot of positions on the first lap, but then for the first time in many years I started feeling fast in the wet and I started overtaking Valentino [Rossi], [Iker] Lecuona, [Danilo] Petrucci, my brother, [Maverick] Vinales in just two rounds.
“So it’s a great shame to lose those points because we could easily have been in the top five and six today.”
Espargaro received an arm pump operation in Barcelona on Monday after struggling with the problem earlier in Jerez.
He is expected to make a full recovery in two weeks for the Italian GP.
Espargaro is the fourth rider this season to have an arm pump operation. Jack Miller from Ducati, Fabio Quartararo from Yamaha and Lecuona from Tech3 have similar procedures.
MotoGP: The crazy French Grand Prix declared from flag to flag
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