Maverick Vinales: “I knew I would suffer” at Mugello MotoGP but “shoulder is good”

Maverick Vinales says physically suffering was not a surprise to him at the Mugello MotoGP.

Vinales finished the MotoGP Sprint on Saturday in 15th, just behind Fabio Quartararo, who said afterwards that his focus at the moment is on not getting injured. 

It’s not the kind of result to be expected from a fully fit Vinales, but the Spaniard insisted afterwards that the shoulder he has struggled with since last July is in a decent condition now, he is only lacking strength, which is causing him to compensate with his opposite shoulder.

“The shoulder is good, just still I don’t have the strength on the left [so] the right side is suffering a lot,” Maverick Vinales explained after the Sprint.

“In this track, with all the changes of direction very quick, I knew I would suffer, so it’s nothing new. 

“But it’s the best training I can do, it’s fantastic, I did the Sprint, I kept a consistent rhythm, so tomorrow I will try to improve in the areas I think we have to improve the bike.”

Vinales’ greater concern was about technical deficiencies on the KTM rather than his physical condition.

“Somehow, the performance decreased while the track gets grip, so maybe related to something [on] the bike,” he said.

“But, however, today that I tried to push a little bit more and was feeling better I see where we have to work, especially on the rear part of the bike where I try to brake and lean quicker and lose the rear. 

“So, I’m very slow in this transition and the problem is that I lose in that part, and also I lose in the centre of the corner because I’m not well-positioned. So, we have work to do. 

“I’m happy that I started to push more the bike and I started to understand where I need to focus to [improve].”

Vinales’ Tech3 KTM team-mate Enea Bastianini crashed out of the Sprint in an incident caused by “not a good manoeuvre” in the Italian’s own words.