London
\nAlex Rins says he was on the limit trying to follow Francesco Bagnaia at the American MotoGP, moments before the world champion crashed out.
\nIn what was just his third MotoGP race for LCR Honda, Rins proved that he is again one of the toughest opponents to beat when fighting at the front of a Grand Prix.
\nValentino Rossi and Marc Marquez have both been beaten by Rins in a direct fight, and although Bagnaia won the Sprint after holding off Rins during the early stages, the pressure applied by Rins in the main race was telling.
\n\u201cI\u2019m so happy for this victory but also for the weekend,\u201d said Rins after his dominant win. \u201cWe did a really good weekend since Friday when we went straight into Q2.
\n\u201cQualifying in second position, finishing second in the Sprint and now getting the victory.
\n\u201cHonestly, Pecco showed us a really strong pace and I was struggling a little bit on the third and fourth sector and sector 1 and 2 I was pushing a little bit more on the limit in the chicanes to lose the gap with him.\u201d
\nBagnaia, who led every lap until his fall, went down at turn two which gifted Rins the lead which he never lost.
\n\u201cAfter this crash I saw myself on the front and lost a little bit of concentration and for one lap these two guys [Marini and Quartararo] reduced the gap,\u201d added Rins. \u201cBut then I tried to not make any mistakes and ride by my own like I know.\u201d
\nRins\u2019 win at COTA makes him only the second MotoGP rider after Marquez to win more than once at the Texan circuit.
\nAnd in doing so, he held off Luca Marini who at one stage was hoping to take revenge for Rossi when the retired nine-time world champion lost out to Rins in 2019.
\nMarini said: \u201cYeah I remembered that in one moment at turn one I had this image in my mind. I thought that it was maybe possible to take revenge but Alex is very strong in this track.\u201d
\nRins responded to Marini\u2019s words in the press conference by saying: \u201cWhen I saw on my pit board, Marini, I said \u2018whoa, keep going because he will try\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
London Alex Rins says he was on the limit trying to follow Francesco Bagnaia at the American MotoGP, moments before the world champion crashed out. In what was just his third MotoGP race for LCR Honda, Rins proved that he is again one of the toughest opponents to beat when fighting at the front of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326595,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-326586","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n