Andrea Dovizioso scored a fantastic win in Sunday afternoon's Italian GP, held at the Mugello circuit in Tuscany in front of a record crowd of 98,269 spectators. What makes the win even more rewarding was the fact that Dovi was suffering from food poisoning and was far from at his peak during the 23 lap race.
“It was a fantastic day for me but it had started badly after a sleepless night because I had a bit of food poisoning,” he said. “Today I didn't have much energy, but I knew that the bike was going to be strong, because we had worked well throughout the weekend and I also had a lot of support from my fans, physiotherapist and family and this made a big difference.”
The Italian, who started from the front row after qualifying third, crossed the line at the end of lap 1 in fourth and then fought it out with Lorenzo and Rossi in the early stages, before moving up to second behind Viñales on lap 6.
Dovizioso then took control at the front and maintained the lead of the race until the flag, holding off attacks from Viñales and Petrucci, who were second and third at the finish.
“Despite the fact that I wasn't at 100%, I was able to administer the race even though I wasn't the quickest man out there, but I did a perfect strategy, and I moved into the right position at the right moment,” Dovi continued.
“I rode really smoothly, I never forced the pace excessively and this made all the difference because Mugello is a track that physically wears you out and in any case the tyres did not allow me to push too hard. Finally we did it: winning at Mugello is really something special!”
In the standings, Dovizioso is now up into second place with 79 points, 26 behind leader Viñales.
Sunday's triumph also takes Ducati up to a total of 34 wins in MotoGP.
