Cal Crutchlow endured a torrid opening round of the 2017 season, the LCR rider falling off of his RC213V twice in the opening stages of the grand prix.
The British rider was forced into running the medium front tyre, much like Marc Marquez, due to the cooler track temperatures. Crutchlow’s aggressive braking style favours the harder tyre, and the step down to a softer compound proved disastrous.
Crutchlow made a decent start, despite contact with Valentino Rossi at Turn 1, and was running just outside of the top 10 in the opening laps.
However, almost immediately, Crutchlow began to overheat his front tyre, and his pace dropped away. To make matters worse, on lap four, he slid off at the final corner after running off line marginally.
“I changed the front tyre on the grid, the same as Marc, and we shouldn’t have,” he claimed.
“The medium tyre was way too soft on the front for us, but we were forced into changing because the race was later and they were concerned about the dew. It was completely the wrong decision for us, but it was sort of taken out of our hands.
“I started the race from a good position, but I had contact with Valentino on the first lap; I didn’t think anything of it. Riding behind the other guys was almost impossible as the front tyre was way too hot.”
Crutchlow picked himself out of the gravel and re-joined, though this also turned out to be a bad move. His Honda suffered damage in his initial fall, and the throttle stuck on when he grabbed the brake into Turn 13 two laps later.
“I went off line a tiny bit at the final corner and crashed, but I got back on. I shouldn’t have really, as the handlebar was bent and there was mud on the grip.
“But I have a never-say-die attitude and wanted to finish the race, but the second crash was because the bike was damaged. I am sorry for my team, we had a similar start last season.”
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