Brad Binder after front tyre warnings: “I should probably wake up a bit…”

Brad Binder was a contender for the podium during the early stages of the Catalunya MotoGP, before lap six saw his pace completely fall off a cliff.

Binder lost touch with the leading trio before falling into the laps of Aleix Espargaro and Raul Fernandez, both of whom got ahead of the KTM rider in the space of two corners.

“I knew the race would be about management so I started the race and just tried to nurse the rear tyre the whole way,” said Binder afterwards.

“Something really strange happened on lap six. My front tyre was dead already and I couldn’t carry any entry speed, couldn’t brake late at all.

“When you enter so slowly and you have to manage the reat tyre to get to the end as well, whoa, the pace was so slow.

“I wasn’t able to push at all and any time I did I had moments with the front just locking. I had to try and get the bike home. There’s not too much to say.”

Binder later confirmed that the issues he faced in the grand prix arrived at the same lap count in the sprint on Saturday.

“To be honest, in the sprint around the same lap I had a big lock on the front and it was the first one that I had and I crashed,” added the factory KTM rider. 

“Today, I had a couple of them and it was a good warning because it was coming again. I had to think, did I want to finish like yesterday or bring it home.”

The scares that Binder was referring to were prominently happening on corner entry as he struggled to lean the bike over completely.

Binder said: “The moment, especially when we’re rolling on corner entry, I had a moment just trying to get to full lean angle.

“It really over powers the front tyre a little bit. I had a few locks in that situation and I said ‘okay, I didn’t listen to this warning yesterday so I should probably wake up a bit’.

“And the reality is that if you can’t push to that extent, you ride around slowly and that’s what we did.”