Maverick Vinales praised for “not letting the other guys bully him”

Maverick Vinales displayed a rarely-seen aggressive side during his victorious sprint race at the Portuguese MotoGP.

The Aprilia rider became the first MotoGP rider to win with a third manufacturer (although the record books will disagree, because Saturday’s victory came in a sprint rather than a grand prix).

Vinales entered the Portimao weekend unwell with gastroenteritis but then qualified behind only Enea Bastianini.

He then claimed glory in Saturday’s sprint, and has been praised for going toe-to-toe with Marc Marquez.

“He was ruthless,” TNT Sports’ Sylvain Guintoli said about Vinales.

“It was great to see him fight back because, normally, when Maverick gets ruffled he doesn’t fight back.

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“He waits, the guy behind attacks him, and he puts himself in a vulnerable place.

“But [in the sprint race] this wasn’t the case at all.

“Marquez came past. Vinales was able to come back past, it was a small mistake from Marquez.

“There was another pass, into Turn 3, where Vinales came in, released his brake, stuck it up the inside of Marquez.

“It was really aggressive. He knew that he had the pace. He was not letting the other guys bully him.”

Vinales reacted on TNT Sports: “It feels amazing, it’s been a long time. I never doubted that I’d be back.

“It was a matter of time to put everything together.

“I was in a good position to attack in the first laps. Then I tried to control.

“I saw that I was closing the gap to Pecco step by step, so I was just controlling the rear tyre.

“When I got to fifth-place, I pushed. I pushed every time.”

Vinales later added: “In Qatar, I was not pushing the tyres in the correct way. And it's a big difference because I can ride better, more sharp and especially I can brake very late, which is one of my qualities. And then pick up the bike very fast. All of that makes that the tyre life longer.

“The Sprint was pretty fast today [3 sec faster than last year]. But the rear tyre didn't go down so I could push.

“Pecco in the beginning was very fast, he took one second away in just two laps. And then I was catching little by little. But he was riding well. So when I see the mistake, I say, ‘OK, if I keep riding like this, it's gonna be tough for the guys behind to overtake me’.

“At the end, it's amazing to do my first victory with Aprilia. It's crazy.”

Veteran rider Vinales has previously won MotoGP grands prix with Suzuki and Yamaha.