Dovi was the brightest of the Ducati riders during qualifying, achieving a good fifth place on the starting grid on a circuit that is not very favorable to the Desmosedici. This Sunday he had an average start which put him in seventh position at the end of the first lap.
It quickly doubled Dani Pedrosa, and found himself at the end of the group fighting for second position behind Jorge Lorenzo, which then included his teammate Andrea Iannone, Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez and Maverick Vinales. He maintained his sixth place throughout the race, but was gradually lost by his predecessors. His delay went from eight tenths on the fourteenth lap to four seconds on the twentieth.
Regular in 1'32, he passed in 1'33 from the twenty-sixth lap, which allowed Espargaro Pol seventh to come back to him. The Spaniard overtook the Italian two laps from the finish and Dovi finished seventh, four hundredths behind the Tech 3 driver.
According to Andrea Dovizioso, “ I'm a little disappointed because I had hoped to finish the season fighting for the podium again, but I had a problem with the front on the first lap. The feeling with my bike was different from what it was during testing, and I wasn't able to brake the way I wanted. It was a shame because I really wanted to fight for the podium in Valencia, which has always been a difficult track for me, and I think today it could have been within reach.
“In any case, finishing fifth was my goal, and if you take into account that I was eleventh after the fourth Grand Prix (Jerez), I must be satisfied with my final place. I am also happy to be part of the Ducati project for the next two years, because now we want to try to fight for something even bigger. »
