The reigning MotoGP champion, who like race winner Johann Zarco, timed his late race attack to pe🐟rfection as he picked off three riders in two laps.

Bagnai☂a was aided by Zarco forcing his way t🦹hrough on Brad Binder which opened the door for him to come past.

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However, Bagnaia’s pace was v⭕ery good despite a relatively slow start as Martin, Binder and Fa🦩bio Di Giannantonio all pulled away from him.

A big day in the title fight as he gained more points on Martin whe🅰n it looked like he would instead lose a big chunk, Bagnaia said: “Absolutely. It was very tough, very long. I think we missed Q2 yesterday just because we tried to work on the medium and do more laps on the medium. 

“This year the ♒grip level was less than last year but the performance was faster. I was sure that the medium was already going to struggle for the race but we managed to do a good job. 

“I recovered again the feeling this morning and qualifying was very importꦑant to get the front row.&nb🧸sp;

“At one moment in the ra꧃ce I was a bit worried because Binder was going away but as soon as I saw Jorge stuck at the same gap, I said we will catch him. 

“I was expecting to catch him a b♌it sooner but finally, in the last lap we did it.”

Bagnaia forced his way through on title rival Martin at turn four of the final lap, after Zarco created a gap by diving to the inꦡside of his team-mate.

Martin then slid to fifth as his soft rear tyre was leading to him spinnin🤪g ൲coming out of the faster corners.

Talking about Martin’s soft tyre gamble, Bagnaia added: “I think he was the only one with the possibility🥃 to race with the soft. 

“Yesterday he did many laps and was quite fast. But I think the maximum number of lap🐭s was 19 w𝔍ith a stop and start. In the races it is always a different story. 

“When I saw the gap it was not enough to have a bit of margin in the last laps. I was just trying to be careful with the rear tyre and I knew that as soon as Brad an♎d Fabio were fighting, I could catch 💖them a bit easier.”

Bagnaia was one of 18 riders out of 21 to use the medium rear tyre, which like the sof🧜t needed its own management in order to have performance late on.

“Today 🐈was very important to remain calm with the tyres,” said the championship leader. “As soon as I saw Martin going away I knew that he was going with the soft. 

“It was the only🔥 strategy with the soft to push like this. It was clear to me that he wou🍬ld have this type of drop.”