MotoGP Assen: Francesco Bagnaia concludes: ‘When I relax, I crash’

The Ducati star hasꦫ dropped a disastrous 91 points from Fabio Quartararo after losing control of his Desmosedici while holding station behind the Frenchman in the early laps at the Sachsenring.
The frustra♉ted Italian insisted there was no reason for his accident and nothing unusual on t💛he data.
“Looking at the data, it's impossible to understand,” Bagnaia said last weekend. “I can't explain it. I'm very angry, because when you crash and you know why, if it's your mistake, normally I'm very self critical. But today༒, the reason I crashed is something I can't explain.”
However, after analysing not only this season’s accidents but the style of past rღace victories dating back to Moto2, Bagnaia believes he’s spotted a common scenario.
“Three times I have cra𝓡shed this year. The first time in Qatar I was pushing because I was behind. But the other two times, in the same moment that I said ‘I will be more calm, breathe and then come back’, I crashed,” Bagnaia explained.
“I don't know about the other bikes, but my feelingꦇ is that when you are not pushing on these tyres, maybe it's more easy to crash. It’s something strange, but it's the only thing🌄 that comes to me when I'm thinking why I crashed.”
In addition to potentially affecting tyre performance or behavior, Bagnaia acknowledged that the decision to relax could🌼 also be having mental consequences.
“I want to say that I never lose concentration during the ra༺ce, but maybe thinking to be more calm and breathe is not something tha⛎t helped me,” he said.
“Because if we look at the races when I start f🐭irst and push, I don't have this type of problem. Just controlling the gap from [the rider behind] is not a problem.
“So I have to concentrate on being more focused in a situ❀ation where I'm not first, when I don’t have a 𝔍small lead of 6-7 tenths and work on that moment.
“I’m sure we are not speaking about having too much pressure🐻, because I think that all riders have worked a lot over all the years before arriving in MotoGP and we can manage well🅺 the pressure.
“But the problem is that in my case, also w✅hen I won in Moto2, I won 8 races and all the 8 race wins were me in front and pushing [all the time].
“I als🌼o think I'm good on the fighting, because when I have to come b🥀ack [through the field] normally I can do it.
“But in a situation where the race starts to be [stable]… I have to be more 🥀maybe focused on 🍒pushing all the time.
“I'm just thinking about this, because I really want to improve myself, and it's something maybe🐈 that I have to improve.”

Francesco Bagnaia fastest on day one at Assen
Bagnaia, who also lost big points when he was taken out in Barcelona and finished 15th in the wet Mandalika race, helped put the Sachsenring misery behind him by being fastest during Fri☂day practice in The Netherlands.
“I feel great, also this morning in the wet, I fel♏t bett💟er than Portimao or Mandalika,” he said.
“And in dry, the most im☂pressꦕive thing was to be just one tenth slower than my best lap time in last year’s race.
“So I feel great today with my bike because the conditions for sure weren’t the best, but we were able to do good work, also in terms of setting so I’m happy💫 about that.”
Assen had been one of the 𒆙Desmosedici's toug♒hest circuits last season, but the latest fairing has helped address the corner entry issues.
"Today I'm one second faster than [Friday practice] last year, so for me the improvements we have done will help us a lot in tracks like this," Bagnaia said. "What I can see is that I can ente🐠r faster in t🀅he faster corners, which is where I was losing a lot of time compared to Fabio last year.
"The base of the bike is similar [to last yea🍌r], but this n✱ew fairing is helping us."
Team-mate Jack Miller w🦂as 🦩fastest in the wet morning session and then fourth in the afternoon.

Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of ꦓthe Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s inju😼ry issues.