-How are you after Assen's crash?
Good. I think it was one of the worst crashes I've had. My leg got trapped under the bike. You can't do anything when a rider collides with you. Physically I'm fine, although my rib hurts a bit and I've had a tough time these weeks because I had trouble sleeping and breathing. I couldn't train on the bike because it was better to recover with my rib like this. Morally, it has been two consecutive difficult races, because they haven't been zero-point races due to our fault, they have been circumstances that have occurred. In the previous one, we had a problem with the bike. In the first lap, I couldn't brake anymore and on lap eight, I had to retire. And in the last race, Miller overshot the braking and crashed into me. He threw me off and pushed Bautista off the track, and in that lap, he had already taken out Laverty and Hayden. MotoGP is very fast and you can't ride it like a Moto3 bike.
-You were in a position to be the top Open again...
It is important for me and for the team, and losing that goal because of circumstances like these makes you angrier. Miller can't come here, to Germany, and drive like that in the first lap again and cause chaos. Surely, if this would have happened to me, if I caused it, it would have been different, but Miller seems like the spoiled child of MotoGP. In Argentina, in the last corner of the last lap, he also came in and hit... But well, we are fighting for the fourteenth or fifteenth position and we don't appear on TV, it's not seen. It's about a recurrent rider... and I'm lying in the gravel and he doesn't even come close to see how I am. Besides, I think he told his mechanics that it was my fault. He didn't even bother to ask if I was okay or not. In this sport, there is something more moral. It happened to me two years ago when I crashed Corti in Brno, and I saw him on the ground and I went to him. I also went to look for him at the clinic... I was upset for him. Something similar happened with Pedrosa in Misano, and I went to him, although in this case, he wasn't responsive. I don't understand the coldness of not being interested in a rider you have crashed.
-I see you're still angry.
I'm not saying this to cry or complain, but I do emphasize the ethical part of this, because it doesn't cost anything to come and ask. He caused damage to the bike worth 50,000 euros or more, and I have a cracked rib, and my knee has been bad all week. The least he could do is to show interest, because it's frustrating to be crashed into and get knocked out in the first lap while in a good position.
-Do you need another good result to recover morale in Avintia Racing?
No, I don't need it. I am strong and I know that by doing things well and working, it will come. If it hasn't come before, it has been due to circumstances that have occurred, and in an 18-race championship, these things happen. I think we will be back on track here. Here, if we are not the top Open, we will be the second, but we will enter the championship with those possibilities of a podium for sure.
-In 2017, the Open bikes will disappear and the Championship will consist of Factory, official, and satellite bikes. Does this motivate you?
Yes, because now with the possibilities we have, we can be in 13th or 14th place, and it affects a bit because you know that there are riders ahead who could be behind in equal conditions. And for me, for the team, and the sponsors, this will be like a championship change, and it will open up possibilities for everyone.
-Would you like the championship to highlight the best satellite team as it does now with the best Open?
Well, that there are not three categories like now. That a team like ours can compete to achieve fifth or sixth place and if it goes very well, fight for a podium. This would really open up the championship. Right now, there are three Ducatis at three different levels, and this should disappear. It should be two levels: the Factory and the satellite bikes.
-What plans do you have for the summer break of three weeks?
To train, this year we have to win the Open Championship. On August 1st, we have a 24-hour endurance race by bicycle in Valencia. We are a good team of six people... and Bocha and my technician Jarno are there.