Johann Zarco was undoubtedly one of the men who was in the spotlight today, and everything went well. The Frenchman’s (first) race started out of the pit lane as announced, but this did not prevent him from making up position after position.
“The plan for the first race was to set a pace for me and move slowly. It took me five or six rounds to get into the group: I think the officer who was supposed to start me must have slept because it took him so long ”.
Then came the red flag a panacea for Zarco and the subsequent restart that allowed the French to come 14th.
“I have undoubtedly benefited from the red flag. After 15 rounds I started to feel the pain while At the second start, the adrenaline helped me get back in shape, which surprised me as I was very worried yesterday. I didn’t take pain medication because I wanted full control of my hand. I I wouldn’t say these were the two toughest points of my career because last year I got similar results and fought a lot more. “
Given a race of this kind, Zarco obviously has something to blame for without a penalty he (maybe) could have been one of the contenders for the podium.
“Without an injury and without a penalty, I would have started from the front row, And I don’t know where to stop Yesterday I was surprised by my speed when I was was injured almost faster than healthy, but I learned a lot of useful things over the weekend ”.
So many things to learn and so many things to fix to be really ready to get results at a certain level …
“Right now my weakness is being effective in a group. I feel good on the bike and am fast on my own, but in a group I fight to be the same in a group fight. In the closing stages I fought with Fabio, I was strong on the straights and he was strong on braking and in the end I couldn’t beat him even though I felt stronger. “
It’s also impossible not to mention Zarco’s cautious “return” to the second lap during the race …
“I had three chances to pass there and I did, but I did the accelerator pedal slightly closed as the bike moved a lot and I couldn’t lean in the way I wanted so they overtook me on turn 3 when braking. In this corner I did everything to stay to the left, and for this reason I also suffered a few overtaking maneuvers. “