Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) was in contention for the win in the Gran Premio Tribul Mastercard di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini until the latter stages, but the Italian says his feeling on the bike wasn't good enough to risk everything in a play for the victory. But less risk meant only marginally less reward, with the rider from Forli crossing the line in third for yet another podium finish - this his first at Misano.
Now 'DesmoDovi' is equal with Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) on victories and points at the top of the table, but the number four sits second by way of having less second places. It has never been closer, and the Italian knows he can fight for it to the wire:
Andrea Dovizioso, P3: "I realised in the first few laps it was a very difficult race for me because I didn’t have grip and didn’t know why. But after Jorge crashed, Danilo and Marc were on the same pace so I was trying to understand if I had a chance to stay there until the end. But I didn’t have any better point compared to them to let me fight. It was so easy to make a mistake, today when I was riding I thought ‘this is when it’s more important to take points and not zero’. You have to try, Marc took a lot of risk but he felt good and I didn’t. I’m not so happy wth the feeling I had and I lost some points, but I’m happy how we confirmed yesterday our speed in the dry. I think we have a chance to fight for the Championship. Marc is strong and the next race is Aragon where he’s really fast, but now we’re three in the Championship. I’m feeling good and we’ll try until the end. Marc and Honda have confirmed they’re strong at the moment, but so have we - at tracks where we weren't that close in the past.”