The only other rider that really threatened Ducati was the Trackhouse rider, who gradually lost ground as the race progressed.

At the last circuit, Oliveira was passed by Marc Marquez and Enea Bastianini, dropping him to eighth place. However, on the penultimate lap, he gained a position when Jorge Martin had an accident.

In a post-race interview, Oliveira said: “It was a great weekend for sure. We managed very competitive lap times, and had very competitive finishes, both in the Qualifying and the Sprint.”

“Today was the first real challenge, in the long race, that I faced during the weekend.”

“We just didn’t have enough for the Ducatis today, they were on a different pace and different grip levels.”

“It’s a shame I couldn’t challenge for more because during the weekend I was riding good, quite smooth, managing the tyres very well but I just didn’t have enough today.”

Similar to the Saturday sprint, Raul Fernandez, Oliveira's teammate, started alongside the Portuguese rider on the front row and fell down the order.

Author

A passionate Irish journalist with a love for cycling, politics and of course Portugal especially their sausage rolls.

Rory Mc Ginn