It was a complicated weekend at Phillip Island, where we sowed well but reaped nothing. Two falls, the first in the sprint. Ugly.

Too bad, in FP and qualifying I had been doing well. After Misano we have a good base on which we are working, and the step forward from the first half of the championship, where we suffered so much was there. In qualifying I come close to the front row.

In the sprint I start well, stay in the top group until the second to last lap…. Good tussle until the penultimate lap. Maverick (Vinales) passes me on the straight. He passes me close and takes off early, at which point I found myself sucked into the slipstream. I tried to go to the right to avoid the suction, but I couldn’t, I ran into him. The fall was really bad for both of us.

I am dazed, go to the medical center, fortunately there are no fractures. They still take me to the hospital for a more thorough checkup. I am told that I will have to serve a long lap penalty in the race, I accept the stewart’s decision-.

On Sunday I wake up with the aches and pains from the day before, I know I can still do well in the race. I get off to a strong start, can keep up with the pace of the front runners and feel good. After a few laps I stretch to serve the penalty luckily I don’t lose too many positions and put the knife between my teeth to get back up. Only I make a mistake and end up on the ground. I get the bike back up, start again. By now the race is gone but I still want to run my best. I do some good laps, the pace is good. Knowing that we have good potential charges me, the crashes of the weekend we put behind us and already look forward to the next stage in Thailand. No quitting!