Espargaro after poor starts cost him shot at victory: “I can’t be happy”

Espargaro, who was fifth at the time of his Sprint race crash, had four opportunities to keep hold of the lead due to red flags in both races resulting in the Sprint and Grand Prix to be restarted with the original grid positions. 

But on all four occasions Espargaro was passed by both factory KTM riders Brad Binder and Jack Miller, while Jorge Martin was also able to pass the Aprilia man into turn one several times.

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But once he fell behind his competitors, Espargaro made very little progress as his feeling with the RS-GP23 was completely different to that of riding alone.  

Espargaro told MotoGP.com: "I can’t be happy with fifth place. Last year, here, I achieved a podium and achieved the pole position yesterday. I was aiming for a better result. We have to improve on Sunday. 

"The bike, when I’m riding alone in the practices, is very good, very competitive, very fast and has good stability. But when I’m in the mix fighting with the other bikes I can’t stop the bike and I don’t know why. 

"I have really bad feelings and I lose the front every time I try to get closer to the other riders to attempt and overtake. 

"I don’t really have a solution so we need to try and understand as soon as possible."

Espargaro sees KTM’s advantages after double Jerez MotoGP podium

Binder and Miller were two of the best riders throughout the Spanish MotoGP round as they stood on the podium during both races.

Binder’s best result was victory in the Sprint, his second win of the season after winning in Argentina, while Miller was third on both occasions.

And after following both riders for much of the two races, Espargaro claimed he was unable to ride the way Binder and Miller could which caused one of the problems he had when trying to overtake.

Espargaro added: "When I’m alone it’s a little bit easier. I can stop the bike whenever I want and I can do my lines. Normally my line is not like KTM. 

"I can’t brake deep like them and then re-accelerate. It’s more about flowing and corner speed. 

"Anyway, I can do my lines and go fast but when I get close to other bikes everything is a lot worse."