Second place on Sunday at the Aragon Worldsub was a source of frustration and satisfaction for Alvaro Bautista, but highlighted the missed opportunity on Saturday and reinforced the “impossibility” to challenge the two dominant riders of the series.
Toprak Razgatlioglu and Nicolo Bulega once again took the top two positions in all three world superbike races at Aragon.
Bautista’s best chance to suspend their fight took place in the Super Pole Race, but he was unable to influence from third place in the end.
“That (super pole race) reminded me of it like last year’s Super pole race.
“But this time, if I win the race, it was because they went out (of the track) because they made a mistake and didn’t feel that it was enough to beat them.
“It was great up until the last corner, so I enjoyed a lot of fights so it was good to be there.
“It’s true that I want to fight them again, but that’s not possible now.”
Bautista won the podium in the Super Pole race in another third in Race 2. Due to the fifth race one crash, the three-time world champions were unhappy with the expansion into the fall by Sunday’s podium.
“I’m happy with today (Sunday), but I’ve been feeling a lot of pain from my mistake yesterday (Saturday) because I think I’ve lost a good opportunity to fight for the podium yesterday too,” Bautista said.
“Today, at the beginning of the race, I was struggling because I felt a lot of inertia on my bike. I couldn’t move my bike the way I wanted it to.
“Yesterday, I tried not to lose too much in the beginning, so I even forced the tires and forced them over 100%.
“I started to feel better yesterday on my bike and the bike started chasing my movements more, so I caught the front group and when I was behind Danilo (Petrucci), I tried to prepare the exit straight and lost the front.
“It was a huge sympathy. Yesterday I was truly feeling really bad. I think it was one of my worst feelings after the crash. I felt a lot of pain.”
He added: “I know it feels good and I can fight for the podium, and I lose a lot of first laps, so it’s the biggest I can achieve right now.
“It’s especially true in Race 2, some riders are able to pass me and it takes a little time to recover.
“When I was third, the gap was too big, I tried to reduce it a little, but I can get the same pace as (leaders), but not more. That’s it.
“This is the biggest we can achieve and we have done it, so we have to be happy, but I have had something in me since yesterday.”