Bagnaia raced against Jorge Martin from Pramac and Marc Marquez from Gresini Ducati in the French GP at Le Mans.
Martin won the race, getting his second victory of the season. This put him ahead of Bagnaia in the championship by 38 points.
Bagnaia led for much of the race but ended up in third place on the last lap, behind Marquez. Marquez is now third in the championship, 40 points behind Martin.
Marquez thinks he, Martin, and Bagnaia have been the best riders this season. He believes the race at Le Mans gives a hint of what the championship fight will be like this year.
“I think the three of us have been the best riders in the championship so far,” he said. “Other riders are fast and can win races, but in terms of speed and consistency, especially Jorge, we are the best. If Jorge hadn’t crashed in Jerez, the top three would have been the same.”
Bagnaia started well and led for most of the race. But Martin overtook him on lap 21. Bagnaia struggled in sector three, especially in Turn 9, where Marquez passed him on the last lap. This made it hard for him to win.
But Bagnaia was happy to finish the race after having issues with his bike during Saturday’s sprint race, which he thought was dangerous.
“Today, sector three was my weak point,” he said. “Yesterday, it was good, but today I struggled in Turn 9 and lost a lot of time. Sectors one and two were good for me, but I lost too much time in sector three.
“I need to improve, but it was important to finish the race after yesterday’s problems. We have time to work on it.”
