Nobody expected to see Jorge Martin in the fight for the US sprint medals, neither for his physical condition, afflicted by angina, fever and weakness from antibiotics, nor in sporting terms, given that two crashes in Q2 left him 12th (last) in the times classification and condemned starting from the fourth row of the grid.
Far behind for a short race, just ten laps, but Martin needed three to get back to fifth and half to finish fourth. A mistake by Aleix Espargaro in the final stages opened the doors to the podium for him, which he had to defend tooth and nail from his Aprilia rival.
“I’m dead. I gave everything to fight for this podium,” declared a “battered” Jorge Martin at the end of the race. “I’m having trouble breathing,” he added between gasps.
“Also, the battle was with Aleix, with whom I can’t make a mistake, because there is an unwritten law between us,” said the Spaniard.
“After three laps of passing, my mouth was full of mucus and I couldn’t breathe. My heart rate increased and it was getting harder and harder to drive,” he recalled.
“In the last three laps I saved my body and I braked late to avoid Aleix overtaking me. I knew he would have tried, but he went a bit long and I was able to keep my position.”
The key to Jorge’s extraordinary result was his start.
“I prepared a lot for the start; right from qualifying I looked at the starts of the other years and knew where I would go. Tomorrow will be a complicated day, because I’ll have to start from 12th place”, he regretted however.
As for the two crashes in qualifying, the rider said he was especially sorry for the team.
“Everything got a bit messed up this morning. I had a great pace. I want to thank the team who fixed both bikes for the race. I want to dedicate the podium to them,” he concluded.
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