Andrea Dovizioso has admitted he expected Marc Marquez to struggle more than he did with the soft rear tyre during todays 23 lap MotoGP race in Aragon.

The Spaniard gambled with a soft rear Michelin tyre after saying he felt good about it and decided to take the risk. Dovi said that Marquez was struggling on right hand corners but was still electric on left-handers.

“I am so happy how much we have improved, from last year, this is the point. Unfortunately we couldn’t win, we tried until the last lap,” said the Italian who sits 72 points behind Marquez.

“But we have to study and analyse the reality and that’s we did a good step, a huge step.

“Also in this race, we can learn something for the future and it’s very, very positive. I was able to stay with Marc until the end. I expected to see Marc struggling at the end, but he was riding very good. On the right corners he was losing a lot for the tyre he has, but on the left corners he was better so I couldn’t really fight with him.

“I did some fight but I didn’t have enough cuts. So second is okay and is important for the future to improve again, what we learning this weekend. But we have to be really, really happy, from the first practice to the race, our speed is really, really good.”

Aragon is a circuit in which the Ducati’s usually struggle, however with Lorenzo’s pole position and Dovizioso’s podium is showing how far the Ducati has progressed in recent years.

“Phillip Island for sure is the worst track for our bike and it will be very interesting,” he said.

“I think we can be really competitive there this year. I don’t think it will be like some other tracks, but what happened this weekend I think is very important, even more than Misano. In Misano it was important but here even more, because this would confirm our improvement.

“This improvement is the reality but is even better for the future.”