Espargaro slams last-lap overtakes, pit stop ruling

Monster Tech 3 Yamaha's Pol Espargaro was clearly unhappy after the Spanish rider lost two places on the final lap of the Argentina MotoGP following a tussle with Hector Barbera.

Espargaro started the last lap in sixth position on the satellite M1 and had the chance to finish fourth after factory Ducati riders Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone crashed out at the final turn, with Iannone paying the penalty for an over-ambitious lunge on his team-mate.

However, Barbera on the Avintia Ducati traded blows with Espargaro and as the pair became embroiled in a frantic battle, Ireland's Eugene Laverty capitalised to sweep past both on the Aspar Ducati for a sensational fourth place.

Espargaro was only sixth at the finish behind Barbera and later stated he was far from happy with some of the overtaking moves on the last lap.

"When you are fighting with some riders and you are not used to fighting with them, they feel like this and they try to make plenty of overtaking moves," Espargaro said.

"It was not a beautiful style at the overtaking but it is like this and the problem is that we don't have to be there fighting with them, we have to be more in front.

"If we are fighting with some riders, we have to take the risk that the riders overtake like this and they ride in a different way than the top riders."

Espargaro also claimed the race played into the hands of the Ducati riders and said he felt they had gained an unfair advantage as a result of the required pit stop during the race on Sunday.

"In normal conditions, yes for sure [good result] but we know that we could be really fast at the end of the race with this tyre, but what happens when you stop after ten laps and put in a new tyre again, the Ducatis [will benefit]," he said.

"They start with the power and they can open the throttle really early and they become invisible again and you cannot overtake them, so I think the race today was made for the Ducatis and I think it was not really fair."