Bezzecchi: What went wrong on Sunday?

The VR46 Ducati rider was never able to make an impression over the 23 laps, dropping from seventh to ninth and only regaining a place when Alex Marquez fell with eight laps to go.

“I don't know,” Bezzecchi shrugged, when asked what had gone wrong. “But it was not like in the practices or in the Sprint.

“We have to check, but I felt very bad since the second corner, and from that moment, I understood that my race was going to be very very difficult.

“Unfortunately I didn't have feeling at all with the bike. We have to check, but it's very strange, because we didn't touch the bike, but I struggled a lot.

“I was having many problems with the front feeling, losing the front many times. I couldn't get close to any rider, because then I was also not stopping anymore.”

Bezzecchi’s words pointed to some kind of front tyre issue, but when asked directly he replied: “Still I don't know.”

Like many, the #72 had switched from the soft to medium rear for the longer race, but highlighted: “This morning [in warm-up] with the medium, I was first. And yesterday with the medium, I was very very fast. So my bike was good with medium and soft.

“But it was more on the front, I felt very bad with the front, I had no feeling, I couldn't brake late, I couldn't go in with the brakes. And when I was close I couldn't stop. I always go wide, I struggled all the race.”

The only positive was that “until the race today I was very fast.”

Bezzecchi, whose team-mate Luca Marini finished fourth, has now slipped 21 points behind double winner Bagnaia heading into this weekend’s Sachsenring round.