Aleix Espargaró was once again a prophet in his land with a historic double with which he forever buries his 2022 fiasco. After winning the Sprint at Pecco Bagnaia on Saturday, the driver from Granollers prevailed with authority over his Maverick teammate Viñales in the Sunday race of the Catalunya GP, on a day marked by the ugly multiple fall at the start, the run-over of Pecco Bagnaia and the injury of Enea Bastianini.
The eldest of the Espargarós bordered on perfection in his weekend of riding around the house, on the circuit where he heard the roar of the engine from school in Granollers, the track where he made his debut with the big bikes, and in which he took pole position, his first serious success in the premier class around 2015 with Suzuki.
He was very clear about his goal since he arrived in Montmeló, where he had an outstanding score: “My goal is to fight for victory; this year we have to be at the front”. He had to recover from last year’s fiasco, in which a mix-up with the circuit’s lap marker saw him celebrate second place a lap before the checkered flag, and as a result he finished fifth and red-hot for the colossal error. “I don’t have any thorn in my side”, he said in the preview of the grand prix, but he had to redeem himself from that mistake that always haunted him and that he himself had engraved on his helmet: One more lap (one more lap), he remembered , so as not to make a mistake again.
So since Friday he was in invincible mode with an Aprilia that fits like a glove to the characteristics of the Valais track. He led the first practices in a dissuasive manner, on Saturday he crushed the Sprint eating Bagnaia and in the Sunday race he once again imposed his authority and his best pace, demolishing, in front of his friend Viñales, who had the courage to make a hare of him almost the entire race, from the first to the nineteenth lap of 23. In the twentieth, Aleix went on the attack and left him dry when braking at turn 1.
“I didn’t want to finish second, I took out all possible traction control on the bike and did 20 minutes of time attack”, explained Aleix. “I said to myself: ‘Either fall or victory’, the advance was at the limit because it was very windy. Maverick with the brakes is better than me, so I had to play with him a lot, in any other circuit he would have finished second”, recounted Espargaró, who waited patiently for his moment, for Viñales to wear down the tires more, with four remaining laps for the goal, to nail him in the jaw. Aggressively, at the limit, he braked harder at turn 1 and passed it cleanly, to take the lead and ride to his first win at home, his second of the year and the third of his career.
“It was a very special victory, I suffered a lot and I was very scared when I saw Pecco’s accident, I arrived very tense and very nervous in the pits”, explained Aleix, who confessed that he had lived the happiest day of his life with the victory celebration on the podium: at home, with his people, after receiving the winner’s trophy from the President of the Generalitat and celebrating the success with his children, Max and Mia, that they enjoyed excitedly.
“It has been the most beautiful weekend of my life, without a doubt. Seeing my two kids handing me the trophy at the grand prize at home is like… I’m a bit of a blur, my whole life has flashed by, I was seeing Max and Mia and I was seeing myself as a kid. It has been impressive”, said the Granollers excitedly.
With a total of 37 points from the Catalan weekend, Aprilia climbs from seventh to fifth place in the riders’ World Championship standings and approaches the 106 points of Pecco Bagnaia’s lead.
Rounding out the podium – the fourth of the year – was Jorge Martín, who didn’t have enough pace to get close to the Aprilias, despite the fact that Oliveira didn’t worry him. The Madrid man has 16 points, is closing in on Bagnaia’s 50 and is fueling his chances of fighting for the World Cup… although the Italian leader will not be absent as he escaped serious fractures and injuries in the run over at the exit.
Àlex Márquez was sixth and his brother Marc was thirteenth, who was able to finish his second race in a row this season.
