The time off was well spent, with the Australian's collarbone and arm injuries now in much better shape for round three, and the triple 2008 race winner went on to finish first qualifying in a strong fourth position - just 0.254secs from fastest man Max Neukirchner.
All three riders ahead of Bayliss -
Carlos Checa,
Yukio Kagayama and Neukirchner - were present at the Valencia test.
"Today has gone pretty well," began Troy. "It's been five weeks since I was last on the bike so it was bound to take a bit of time to get back into it but everything is working well and even though we missed the recent test at this track, I am happy so far with the progress we've made during the day.
"There a few small things regarding the set-up that I think we're still missing and that would allow me to be more comfortable on the bike but those are issues I hope we can resolve tomorrow. My fastest time today could have been better if it wasn't for traffic on the track but overall I have to say that I'm reasonable satisfied with our performance," he added.
Team-mate
Michel Fabrizio was only 0.020secs behind Bayliss by the end of day one, but confessed he's playing catch-up compared with those present at the test.
"I've had a month away from the bike so it was clear it was going to take a while to get on the right track but we seem to have got there this afternoon," said Michel, who was only 24th in first free practice. "This morning we tried different things and various tyre combinations.
"The problem is that other teams already have a point of reference from which to work but we have come here with a new bike and we also missed the tests held here a couple of weeks ago, so we had to work hard today so as to get closer to the right bike set-up," he confirmed.
"I'd say that I'm very happy with how we've performed, and I'm also pleased that I'm back to full fitness too so we'll see if we can continue to improve tomorrow," concluded the Italian.
Yamaha Italia was the only other factory team to miss the Valencia test.
