Pecco Bagnaia: “We know why I crashed” in Le Mans MotoGP

Pecco Bagnaia’s promising Le Mans weekend came to a frustrating conclusion when he crashed out of second place midway through the French MotoGP.

After dropping from pole to fifth on the opening lap, Bagnaia fought back up to second place behind title leader Marco Bezzecchi.

Bagnaia remained behind the Aprilia rider and looked firmly in contention for a first Sunday podium of the season, to add to his runner-up finish in the Sprint.

However, a worsening “issue” was affecting his front confidence, and Bagnaia was eventually caught out at the first chicane on lap 16 of 27.

“We worked well and improved a lot this weekend. We were there in the race today, and even though we're struggling a lot at the starts, I managed to get back up to speed,” Bagnaia told Sky Italia.

“Unfortunately, we had a small issue, and lap after lap, I was losing confidence in the front end, trying to maintain the same pace. It can happen, and we'll try to work on it.

“We know why I crashed, so the team is definitely working on it, but it's not human error, and it can happen."

Bagnaia added that the unspecified issue was "the same as last time”, referring to his mid-race crash at the previous Spanish Grand Prix.

"This loss of confidence happened in the last seven laps or so, and unfortunately, it got worse until I couldn't turn in as I wanted.

“But we know precisely why I crashed, and that's something that helps us a lot.

“We were fast all weekend, we took pole. Today we were there, we were behind Bez at the start, but I was able to manage it all pretty well, and unfortunately what happened, happened."

Despite the DNF, Bagnaia insists he’s feeling confident for next weekend’s Catalunya round.

"I have full confidence in the work we're doing, and I'm sure we'll arrive in Barcelona next week having made a big step forward since testing, and I hope we can make another step forward to get on par with, or better than, Aprilia."

After Bagnaia's exit, Aprilia went on to fill all three places on the podium with Jorge Martin, Bezzecchi and Ai Ogura.

Bagnaia was the only factory Ducati rider on track after team-mate and reigning champion Marc Marquez returned to Madrid for surgery following Saturday’s Sprint accident.

Marquez will miss his the Barcelona MotoGP event.