Zarco: That’s the paradoxical nature of a MotoGP bike…

Johann Zarco may have completed a mammoth 100 laps and set the third fastest lap time during Tuesday's official MotoGP test at Misano, but it wasn't a trouble-free outing for the Avintia Ducati rider.

The Frenchman suffered an unusual low-speed accident while exiting pit lane, which sent his Desmosedici into the barriers.

"I crashed in the exit of pit lane," Zarco said, ahead of this weekend's second Misano event. "I went out, there is this long 'corridor'. Always you can see riders coming. I wanted to go behind Fabio.

"So at the same time I was as looking, braking to warm-up the brakes, opening the throttle, going at only 60kph – all easy for a MotoGP rider at this speed – but then I changed gear to go faster.

"At that moment while changing gear, plus [warming the braes] I got much more torque and I fell down. Then the bike really 'bam, bam, bam'... The bike touched walls.

"Fortunately, it just destroyed the fairing. Nothing bent. But I was worried so we did a back to back test to see if all was working. We did the confirmation, things were working, put a new tyre and did [his fastest lap] a '31.8s. So, many things happened, but it was a good day.

"I've had two crashes in Misano at the moment. Neither by pushing. Once out of the box and the first left. Then the pit exit.

"That's the special thing about a MotoGP bike. You can push into the corner and when everything is okay there is almost no limit. You can do things that even as a rider you don't believe. Other times you can be straight upright and end up on the floor.

"That’s the paradoxical nature of a MotoGP bike."

Zarco, 15th in last Sunday race, also got some new Ducati parts for his 2019-spec machine, making him feel like a factory rider again.

"Thanks to the great support from Ducati I could try different stuff on the chassis," said the Brno podium finisher. "I was happy because, really, the work they did before the test to prepare new combination of chassis was a feeling of being a factory rider. "They repeated to me: you are in contract with us directly. So if we feel you can give us info we have to make you test things."

The #5 - waiting to hear if he will be placed at Pramac or the Official Ducati team in 2021 - now plans to try the new parts further during this weekend's seventh round of the world championship.

"I think, yes because we were feeling good on it. But we still have the old parts that were working well with a different setup. There is not one thing that gives us everything. It's always a compromise.

"It's not easy but I want to start with new one to keep working on it and keep giving info to Ducati."