POL ESPARGARO SAYS MISANO LEFT HIM RIDING “LIKE AN OLD MAN” IN SUNDAY RACE

Pol Espargaro described Misano as a “super-physical” MotoGP round after a tough Sunday that left him feeling drained by the end of the race. Riding for Red Bull KTM Tech3 in his third event of the current stint replacing Maverick Viñales, Espargaro finished 14th, following a promising Friday that had him running inside the top ten in practice.

Speaking after the race, Espargaro said he was already struggling with fatigue and explained that the demands of the full-distance event were beyond what he could sustain. “I’m so tired,” he said. He felt he had enough energy to stay competitive for the Sprint distance on Saturday, but the final third of the longer race proved too much. “I think the last eight laps were too much for me,” Espargaro said, adding that if the weekend had been another Sprint-style race, he believed he would have been “competitive.”

As the race progressed, the physical toll became more specific. Espargaro pointed to his right arm and his back as the areas that started to fail him. “From that on my right arm, I start to struggle, […] my back, I start to struggle riding the bike like an old man,” he said. He also linked the problem to the way the bike has to be ridden when the tyres age and when the rider is forced to chase others. “Trying to follow them [other riders], I get more tired,” he explained, noting that multiple factors were at play.

Despite the Sunday result, Espargaro said he was pleased with the level he reached earlier in the weekend. He was “happy overall” that he could be competitive over one-lap performance and in the Sprint, where he felt the pace was there. “In a Sprint, this time, I’m really competitive,” he said, referencing the form of other riders as well: “same as Brad [Binder] and Enea [Bastianini].”

Misano’s character, according to Espargaro, is what makes the difference between being able to fight for a strong showing and being overwhelmed late in the race. He said the track’s high grip is the key reason the event becomes so demanding. “The extra grip makes the bike super-physical,” he stated. He contrasted Misano with Barcelona, describing how the lower-grip nature of the Spanish circuit allows riders to avoid accumulating fatigue. “Barcelona is really low grip and you get zero tired,” he said. “You don’t get even tired, and this one [Misano] is so grippy and you get so tired.”

Espargaro also broke down what that grip means in practice: more time on the limit during accelerations, higher G-forces under braking, and heavy loads through direction changes and fast corners. “When the track is so grippy, it makes that you go on the limit in every acceleration,” he said, adding that the braking and cornering forces are particularly punishing. He referenced the sequence of hard braking and heavy weight transfer into corners, describing how the physical strain builds as the rider repeatedly has to manage the bike at speed.

When asked whether earlier-season injury issues were still affecting him—after missing training time and also spending time testing KTM’s 850cc machine for 2027—Espargaro said the situation was a mix of several elements. “I think it’s a combination of many things,” he replied. He pointed to not having had the preseason to build up strong physical conditioning, and to the fact he is not riding as often as he would like. He also said he does not fully know how the bike behaves when the tyres are worn, describing the challenge of understanding “what’s happening on the bike when the tyre is 20-laps-old.”

He further admitted that his race approach includes an early intensity that increases fatigue. “I’m super anxious in the first lap because I’m super on the limit,” he said. Espargaro also addressed the broader challenge of age and competition. “But anyway, the thing is that I’m getting old – I’m 35 and I’m fighting against guys [who are] 25,” he said. “This is the point.”

Ultimately, Espargaro said he feels more tired than he thinks he should be, even when he trains, and used that to explain why he has deep respect for riders who can keep their performance through the hardest phases of a race. “Honestly speaking, I feel like I’m more tired than I should be. Even if I train, I believe it’s hard,” he said. “So my respect to Marc Marquez and Johann Zarco.”