168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Aleix Espargaro came within 0.052s of completing a dream home MotoGP ꦐfarewell in Cata🌺lunya with a podium finish on Sunday.

After announcing his retirement at the end of this season, the Aprilia star promptly topped practice, took pole position and won the Saturday ☂Sprint.

But Sunday's full-length grand pri🍰x, on the medium rather than sof꧟t rear tyre, proved a much tougher challenge.

Dropping from pole to sixth in the early stages, Espargaro reclaimed ground and inherited th▨ird when Pedro Acosta cras𒅌hed out on lap 11 of 24.

A pass by Marc Marquez then stripped Espargaro of the podium with four laps remaining, but the #41 dug deep and was close enough to consider an all-or-nothing lun൩ge in the final corners.

“With the soft🍷 tyre, I was a lot stronger. But today with the medium I never felt good,” Espargaro said. “At the end I tr🐈ied my best to stay close to Marc, but I was just sliding, sliding, sliding.

“I tried everything because Marc had no grip on the right corners. So I said to myself, ‘OK, if yo🌟u are closer in 13 or 14, maybe you can go for the inside.

“But he protected the inside and at the very last momenꦡt I decided not to do it.

“I could have made a big mess! And with Ma🧔rc, in Catalunya, in a special weekend for me, I didn't want that. Fourth place is good enough.

But Espargaro insisted he had no regrets: “I fought🦂 like a lion all race.

“It🅠 was for a podiu⛎m in my last race at home, so it was the moment to risk. So I tried everything. But Marc is Marc. No mistakes. And he secured his podium.

“You saw th🍷e first three bikes [were Ducatis] on the podium today and the Aprilia was fourth. I tried eve𝔍rything but not enough.”

Espargaro finished 5.4s c🎀lear of the next-best Aprilia of Raul Fernandez, on the 2023-spec bike in fifth.

Factor♔y team-mate Maverick Vinales was a distant 12 seconds behind Espargaro in 12th.

B꧂ut Espargaro admitted he could do nothing about the pace of Ducati duo Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Marꩵtin, who finished ten seconds ahead.

“They beat my race ti🐼me from last year by 20 sec🍃onds, which is crazy,” Espargaro said.

“[Ducati] chose🐻 this track for testing and they improved a lo❀t.

“They found something in the tyre saving. They foun𝓰d something for sure with the medium tyre. This is w꧅hy testing is very, very, very important.

“The result here last year was a 1💛-2 for the Aprilias. Th🌊is year they [Ducati] chose Barcelona [as a test track]. We didn't… 1-2 for Ducatis.”

Although Espargaro intends to switch to test and wild-card duties for 2025, he surprised by revealing it proꦡbably won’t be for Aprilia…