MotoGP champion Pecco Bagnaia suffered an unexpected defeat in the Portuguese Grand Prix sprint due to a fascinating mental lapse. Bagnaia appeared to be on track for his first sprint victory since August of 2023, maintaining a comfortable lead over Maverick Vinales and the rest of the chasing pack as they approached the ninth lap of the 12-lap race. However, Bagnaia made a critical mistake while braking into the challenging downhill first corner, losing rear contact and overshooting the turn. This error dropped him to fourth place upon rejoining the track. Despite his efforts to recover, Bagnaia’s performance for the remainder of the race was lackluster as he fended off Jack Miller and Enea Bastianini. Initially, this raised concerns about a potential underlying issue, but Bagnaia later clarified that his focus was solely on bringing the bike home without any further mishaps. In his own words, he admitted, “I messed up.” Bagnaia explained that he failed to consider the fuel consumption and the unique characteristics of the first corner, which caused the rear of the bike to rise higher. He also noted that the rear felt more unstable with this year’s bike, particularly on this track. Bagnaia acknowledged that he should have taken these factors into account but failed to do so, adding another lesson to his repertoire. The defeat was devastating for Bagnaia, who described his mistake as “huge.” Nevertheless, he found solace in the fact that his performance had been nearly flawless until the ninth lap, marking a significant improvement in his sprint races. Bagnaia recognized that such mistakes were not helpful but emphasized the importance of focusing on the positives, such as his ability to compete in a sprint race with a soft rear tire that did not provide his ideal feeling. Despite Bagnaia’s error, neither of his fellow Ducati riders on the 2024-spec bikes were able to capitalize on his misfortune. Jorge Martin, whose streak of nine consecutive top-two finishes in sprints came to an end with a third-place finish, lamented a sudden recurrence of a rear vibration issue that had plagued him throughout the season. Martin believed that pushing too hard into the rear tire was the cause of the problem, which worsened with each lap and prevented him from overtaking Maverick. He expressed the need to resolve this issue to avoid it persisting throughout the season. On the other hand, Enea Bastianini, who started the race from pole position, encountered a different setback. His chance of winning the sprint was effectively dashed when he entered the race with a disengaged front ride height device. It appeared that Bastianini had braked too forcefully while getting into his grid slot, resulting in the device becoming disengaged. Starting without the device felt unusual for Bastianini, as it caused the bike to wheelie excessively and disrupted the electronic setup. Consequently, he had to ease off the throttle at the start and dropped to fifth place by the end of the first lap, although he remained ahead of Martin at that point.
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