Aleix Espargaro has spoken of the "hurt" he felt when learning that Suzuki had signed Andrea Iannon𒀰e through one of his mechanics, and revealed he is now entering the new season with a renewed sense of purpose.

In a frank interview held soon after Aprilia's MotoGP team launch, Espargaro detailed his misery at a lack of competitiveness at the beginnin♎g of 2016, as the switch to Michelin rubber penalised his aggressive, late-braking style.

"I cried a lot, a lot, a lot after the warm-up at the Qatar GP," he said of that trying opening to the year. "I never cried in my life because of a result in MotoGP, or in a race. But I was despe🌠rate. I wasn't enjoying it."

A pragmatist, the elder of the Espargaro brothers accepted that, with his up-and-down results in mind, Su▨zuki - a factory that, in his words, treated him like "a king" during his two-year stay - may be looking elsewhere to complete their rider line-up for 2017.

It was, however, their means of informing him that ༺lꦡeft a bad taste. Arriving in Mugello for the sixth race of the year, Espargaro learned of Suzuki's acquisition through a casual interaction with his mechanics, rather than a member of team management.

"It hurt me," he admitted. "Actually, the two years I was in Suzuki I was a king. Everything I needed, I had it. Everything I asked for, I had it. It was everything fantastic.

"But, the last part, the way they did... I mean, if they decide that Iannone was my replacement, that's OK. I'm not the boss of Suzuki. I would agree. But for me, the way they did everything in the middle of the GP, they talk with the mechanics before me.

"For me, it was not the correct way. When you are in a difficult moment as I was, I never talked bad of the Suzuki🌱. I never said that the Suzuki was s**t when I was crashing. Never, ever.

"I was trying chassis, trying everything th💮e engineers told me. So I felt a little bit bad. But, you know, things are like this. This world is not easy!"

On that afternoon in Tuscany that upset him so, he continued: "I remember when we arrived in Mugello, I arrived on Wednesday and my mechanics told me, 'Aleix, I 𝐆don't know if you know but we just made a meeting this morning and Iannon🐻e is coming.'

"I said, 'What!?' They said, 'Yeah, yeah, th🌼ey told me about Iannone.' I said, 'What? But who told you?' 'They [Suzuki] made a mee💫ting with all of us. Hello. Good morning!'

"For me, it was not the way to do it. But it was the only thing that really hurt me because I was not competitive. I know. It's very easy. I was not competitive so another can come. Th🍸is is very clear. But, the way the did it..."

The Catalan nonetheless recovered his self-belief and continued adapting to Michelin's new front tyr𒈔e through the season. By Aragon, he was scrapping for t꧋he front six once again, and podium fights soon followed in Japan and Australia.

More than that however, Espargaro pointed to a desire to prove those who feel Aprilia is a signif𝐆icant step down from Suzuki wrong as⛄ a strong motivating factor going into 2017, his eighth full-time season in MotoGP.

"What I like a lot is that a lot of people told me after leaving Suzuki and now going to Aprilia is two steps dow𓆏n. So this gives me a lot of motivati💛on.

"I trained more than ever in my life this winter. I've lost three kilos from last season. So I'm fully ready to get aboard this project.ꦡ I think we started better than what everybody exꦡpect."

CLICK HERE to read the fu🔴ll interview with Aleix Espargaro