Pain management the key to “nice” Cremona World Superbike second place for Alvaro Bautista

Alvaro Bautista arrived at Cremona Circuit for the WorldSBK Italian Round unsure of whether he could ride, and ended it with two podiums.

The Spanish rider suffered mostly in Superpole, where he qualified only 13th, but in Race 1 he finished third on Saturday.

Despite his effort in Saturday’s race, Bautista felt no worse physically when riding in Sunday’s races.

“My day has been very positive because today I felt better riding my bike, with less pain than yesterday,” Bautista said. “So, for me, that’s the important [thing], that, after yesterday’s effort, today I don’t feel worse, I feel even a bit better.”

Speaking more specifically about his races on Sunday, Bautista explained how he had to manage the pain he felt from his injury in order to work his way to the podium.

“In the Superpole Race, I can make a good comeback — was not easy, because only 10 laps, starting from the back (13th), everybody is pushing 100 per cent without [worrying] about the tyres, so was more difficult than yesterday. But I can recover a lot of positions, and it gave me a good grid position for Race 2.

“[In Race 2] I did a good start, I just tried to stay, at the beginning, with the group, because I knew that the first few laps are more critical for me, because the bike is more heavy; also here, with the pain, I need like two or three laps to just forget the pain and start to be focused on riding.

“So, I tried to not lose too much, especially in the first five laps. Then I tried to find my pace, and it was really good because it was faster than yesterday so I was really happy, and also the feeling with the bike was really good.

“When I was in podium position, I say ‘okay, it’s nice but maybe, if you can keep your pace, who knows?’ Because, yesterday, I saw that Danilo [Petrucci] and Nicolo [Bulega] in the last laps slow down.

“So, I just keep the same pace [in case] they [did the same] as yesterday. They were more consistent than yesterday, but in any case I can catch Bulega.

“I was very close to pass him in some points, but I’m not in that moment that I can risk, or I can force more because I’m not feeling 100 per cent fit, and also because a crash in my situation could be horrible.

“I saw that, in the back straight, he was braking really hard, but if I can exit well from the corner before, I can take the slipstream I can arrive [alongside].

“So I just did it, I try, and it worked. I’m really happy because, then, I had some space to keep pushing.

“Second position is nice, because on Thursday I didn’t know if I can ride the bike, and now we finish with two podiums.”

Both Bautista and Bulega remain mathematically in title contention, but it’s Bulega who has the upper hand in terms of points: 352 points compared to Bautista’s 283, and only now 13 points behind championship leader Toprak Razgatlioglu.

Despite the gulf between them, Bautista insists there are no team orders coming from Ducati.

“We don’t have team orders,” Bautista said. “The team only asks for respect inside the track, so don’t make dirty things, just just to be as clean as possible, and who is faster wins.

“I mean, it is not any orders, so just respect. Normally, I try to respect all the riders, and for sure your teammate you have to be like three per cent more respect.

“I did a clean overtaking [on Bulega], so everything was under control.”