He had found the front row and podium in Catalonia three weeks ago and also the hope of seeing his subscription to the outposts renewed. But in the humidity of the Dutch Grand Prix he was beaten cold. This one is a Dani Pedrosa who had the cup this Saturday in the rain in Assen. He will start from an anonymous fifteenth place for a race which does not promise him any more prospects.
The Grands Prix follow one another and are not alike for one Dani Pedrosa who will not have good memories of this Saturday in Holland. In the dry, he missed a top 10 which threw him into the trap of repechages to endure in the rain. Before even facing it, he crashed with his best bike during the last free practice session. One more handicap which made the one who currently has 102 podiums in the nothing category, a simple extra.
« I had good pace in FP4 but I fell in a strange way. I didn't understand this fall » comments a disappointed Dani. “ But no matter, it was the end of the day with this bike. I had to get another one with a different chassis and tried to get back into rhythm. I took the same settings for Q.1 then I got the same scare as before in the same place. We will come from far away for the race, but whether it is dry or wet, we will give the best of ourselves ».
Assen, by the way, never gave any gifts to Pedrosa. The latter has only one victory there and it was during the 125cc in 2002. A good memory since it was his very first achievement at this level. He has been on a Dutch podium five times in MotoGP with third places in 2006 and 2014 and a second position in 2008, 2010 and 2012. Last year, he finished eighth after being forced to take his bike from reserve after breaking his racing machine during the warm-up.
