Australia's Jack Miller fought hard to keep Pramac Ducati's team-mate Pecco Bagnaia behind him at the end of Sunday's Catalan MotoGP but had nothing for the two Suzukis that kept him off the podium.

With low track temperatures forcing everyone on to the soft rear, Miller sat one place off the podium until Valentino Rossi crashed but Joan Mir and Alex Rins, both on the GSX-RR, were able to look after their tyres better and eventually passed the youngster.

"I was fourth most of the race but those Suzukis had way better pace than us near the end so I couldn't fight them, there wasn't much point," said Miller.

"When my team-mate Pecco (Bagnaia) came by me on the last lap I fought that one though. I got him back and had just enough to hold him off in the end, and I didn't lose a spot in the championship so that's good, I'm still sixth with six races to go so I'm still in it.

"It felt like a salvage day for the championship, one where you take your points and go home, basically.

We got to about 10 laps to go and my plan was to start pushing on and trying to reel in those Yamahas, and then with about seven laps to go the rear tyre fell off a cliff and died in the arse, more or less.

"I was a bit of a sitting duck from there, and the Suzuki boys, Mir and Rins, seemed to have more tyre life than the rest of us.

"As we were coming back in on the cool-down lap I noticed their tyres didn't even have any lines on them, where mine and all the Yamahas did. The Suzukis could have handled a few more laps, but I reckon the rest of us were pretty happy that it ended when it did."