Ex-Ducati rider Enea Bastianini has now slammed Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro for helping his compatriot Jorge Martin win the championship this year. Bastianini was not impressed with Espargaro slowing him down when Jorge Martin was leading comfortably. The Aprilia rider was in the last race of his MotoGP career and was acting like a wingman for the 2024 MotoGP world champion. Espargaro had a bad start and was fourth after the first lap as Marc Marquez and Jorge Martin went ahead of him.
He was passed by Bagnaia’s Ducati teammate Bastianini and was pushed to fifth place on the grid. Enea then attacked Martin for the third position as he was vulnerable to losing many positions and his championship was on the line. He forced the Independent Ducati rider to defend and make mistakes and at that time Espargaro wanted to help his dear friend who was struggling to keep the incoming Ducati.
Espargaro & Bastianini are fighting hard for P4
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The Aprilia rider launched on Bastianini and pushed him back to fifth place. He was then keeping the Ducati rider behind him for most of the race and Jorge Martin went ahead and kept a safe distance from him. The Italian also lost his fifth position to Gresini racing team rider Alex Marquez went back off the grid and finished seventh. Now the Italian rider has launched an attack on Espargaro for being the wingman of Martin.
'Espargaro cost me' - Bastianini
"F***, it was tough!" 🥵
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He said “I lost much time with Aleix today and it has been impossible to do more than my result. Not happy about what Aleix had done because for me it's not correct. Without the fight with Aleix, it probably was possible to do something more for myself but he did all the race for Martin. Well, of course, he is friends with Jorge. But for the rest of the track you can do something like this. It is his last race and maybe he should have achieved a better result or even fought for the podium.”
Aleix hits back at Enea
❤️ #GrazieCapitano ❤️
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Impossible not to tear up as @AleixEspargaro bids farewell to #MotoGP on home soil 🔚#SolidarityGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/F8iKfUOffM
Espargaro hit back at Bastianini for his comments on helping Martin win the championship. He also called Jorge Martin his little brother. The retired rider said “We both had a feeling that it was all Ducati against him, which is completely normal. They tried to retain the title and the feeling I had was I was the only one to protect my little brother and his title. Once the race started I was completely focused, I rode on the limit of the bike more than ever in my career, trying to protect him as much as possible, and I'm very happy and proud to be able to help him a little bit.”
One that @88jorgemartin and @AleixEspargaro will remember for different reasons ❤️#MART1NATOR 🦾 pic.twitter.com/OQtWCY4DCp
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) November 17, 2024
Espargao also referred to Alex Marquez who passed him during the race. He said “The only thing I will respond it's not fair to say this. In the last lap, I was waiting for him to fight but he was three seconds behind me with the factory Ducati. So I don't know what he was referring to.”
Aleix said he was riding to the maximum speed but Enea couldn't catch him like Alex Marquez. He was the only rider with a non-Ducati machine in the centre. Martin became the first-ever independent champion in the MotoGP era since Valentino Rossi won the championship with the Nastro Azzurro Honda team.
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