Rins ‘really disappointed’ at losing podium

Alex Rins was hugely disappointed to miss out on a third MotoGP podium finish of 2019 at the death as the Spaniard was unable to fend off a late Jack Miller charge as he ran into excessive tyre wear.

The 23-year old held third place from the third lap as he fought to hold onto the coattails of Marc Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso just ahead.

But from the tenth lap it became clear Rins was losing rear grip. From there he began lapping in the 1m 58s, a pace that eventually trailed off to the 1m 59s on lap 17. By then the Australian was ready to pounce. Rins simply had no answer.

“No chance. No chance,” came Rins’ response when asked about his podium hopes late on. “I'm really disappointed, because after being third all the race, fighting to the last ten laps, fighting to finish the race, he [Miller] overtook me.

“But it was funny. Because Jack, in the first corner when he overtook me, I was laughing in the helmet. Then in Turn 5, he stopped the bike more and I wasn't able to overtake him.

“But anyway, after two crashes in the last two races, finishing fourth is I think is positive, 13 points for the championship. The race was good.”

Where was his limit in the closing stages on Sunday? “In my case, I had a lot of problems spinning on the right side of the tyre,” he said. “I was using the kerb to get traction for drive.

“But anyway, all the race behind Dovizioso. Sincerely, I was waiting for him to make a mistake to overtake Dovizioso. Marc was one step in front of everybody again, so for the rest everything good.”

On his plans for Monday’s test Rins added, “I don't know exactly what, but for sure we will compare the old fairing and the new one. We will try to work a little bit on the electronic side to see if we can improve what happened today.”