“He stayed at 60% throttle until we crashed!”

Aragon made headlines for a weekend full of headlines, from the return of the King to the controversial clash between Alex Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia. The action on track got fans all over the world talking and giving their own opinions, but the riders at the centre of the action also had their say. Here are the main talking points and the hottest headlines from the Aragon Grand Prix.

“He stayed at 60% throttle until we crashed!”

World Champion Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) was furious after his collision with Alex Marquez at MotorLand Aragon. With six laps to go, the two were neck and neck in the battle for the final podium spot before contact occurred at Turn 13. The Italian was certain that Marquez was to blame for the incident and pointed to the Spaniard's data, which he believes shows that he was not off the track at any point during the incident.

“I was right at the front. Even before I changed direction. What makes me even angrier is looking at the data. Because as soon as I turned into turn 10, I was in front and I left space because I knew it was there, but I was going with a lot more speed. I didn't need to close the line to be in front either.

“As soon as I did that, as soon as I entered Turn 10, I heard his engine open the throttle and accelerate. That's bad. And what's worse is the fact that he was between 40 and 60% throttle until he crashed.

“It's also very dangerous when someone does something like that because normally you try to avoid contact. You don't want to have contact with someone. And from the data, from what happened, it's clear that someone isn't dying.” Same idea.

“I DIDN'T SEEN HIM”

However, Alex Marquez of Gresini Racing strongly disagreed with Bagnaia and said he did not see him fighting with the world champion.

“Pecco decided to make the move from the outside. It was really brave and clear that he tried that. But he knew that I was there, because he knew that I didn't see him at any moment.

“YOU HAVE TO LEAVE A LITTLE MORE SPACE”

Aprilia Racing's Aleix Espargaro also commented on the incident and felt that Bagnaia could have done a little more to avoid contact between the two.

“This is a crash we have seen many times in MotoGP, especially recently. But when you come from the outside, like Pecco did, you have to leave more space for the rider on the inside. Alex can't disappear. He can close the throttle, but why does he have to do that? This is a race. If you also want to avoid an accident, you have to leave a little more space.

“ALEX’S FAULT. HE PROVOKED IT”

Aprilia rider Miguel Oliveira of Trackhouse Racing had a slightly different opinion on the incident. The Portuguese rider was convinced that Marquez was in the wrong.

“Alex's mistake. He provoked it. That's how I see it too. It's a strange situation because he went wide and knew that Pecco was taking the outside line. So he finally went into the corner, but he was half a wheel behind him. And he just leaned against it. He could have eased off the gas, but it was too fast.

“I KNEW IT WHEN THE VALENCIA TEST WAS TAKEN”

Despite passing the 1,000-day mark, Marc Marquez wasn't too worried about the wait to climb back to the top step of the podium. The eight-time World Champion revealed that after just one day on the bike, he knew he would have a chance of winning in 2024.

“At the Valencia test I realized that victory was coming. There I realized that we have our chances. One thing is to fight for the championship. For that point we still have to keep working. But in Valencia I began to understand that sooner or later a victory would come again. For that reason I was calm and did not overreact too much.