Pecco Bagnaia looked to be on for his second victory in a row on Sunday before the Ducati Lenovo crashed out of the FrenchGP with six laps to go.

Bagnaia’s dominant lead, and concentration, was broken by Gresini’s Enea Bastianini on lap 21 before the Italian ran wide at turn eight, recovering only to crash out five corners later at Raccordement.

“Till then I was quite easy going fast like this,”Bagnaia reflected on Sunday night. “Was easy, but then I don’t know, I did a mistake going straight and going wide in turn eight. Then when Bastianini overtook me after that I go wide. I didn’t think to recover him just in three corners, I was just trying to be smart on that moment because it’s easy to lose concentration. But I crashed.

“In any case, the thing is if I want to win a championship, if I want to fight for the championship, I don’t have to put in the trash 20 points like this.

“So I have days to think about that race. The good thing is that we were very competitive. We were again on top, but I just lost 20 points today.

“We were a bit on the limit on that lap,” he admitted. “But then I go straight and I’ve seen Enea and I was thinking that he was fast. So I think to be smart, to be intelligent, don’t lose points but in any case when I arrived to the second last corner, I entry slower for that reason and I lose the front. But my mistake, for sure was my fault because I crashed but I would like to take the positive about that race and think about what I lose today.”

With the FrenchGP a case of ‘what might have been,’ there’s a glimmer of hope on the immediate horizon for the Italian. His home Grand Prix at Mugello is next in line.

“Mugello is have to be fantastic for me,” the 25-year-old confirmed. “For sure would be a good weekend with all the people looking for the Italian riders.

“I would like to have a revenge compared this race because when you are so competitive like this and you lose points like this, is the best thing. So I would like to arrive in there very well prepared.”