Monster Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow said he was well aware Marc Marquez was taking lumps of time out him and former team-mate Andrea Dovizioso at the end of yesterday's Le Mans MotoGP round.
The Isle of Man resident, who rode to a career-best second place despite having a fractured tibia, had seen the Spaniard's name on his own pitboard and thought, 'Oh no, please' as he knew the Honda would have looked after its front tyre better.
"In the last eight laps, I was concerned about the front tyre as I nearly crashed twice. Especially in turn four, where I crashed in practice, I had to save it on my knee a few times and try to open the throttle to get weight on the rear, but that was already destroyed so it was a difficult race," said Crutchlow, speaking at Le Mans.
“I had to get past Dovi because I saw on my pitboard that Marquez had taken one second out of us in one lap. I knew he was coming and it was only a matter of time. I knew he was in the race as I saw his pitboard and then with two laps left, I saw Marquez on mine and I thought, 'Oh no, please' but the problem is we can't push the Yamaha at the end of the race because the front tyre was already destroyed.
"The Honda uses the rear tyre more and if you looked in parc ferme at the fronts, we are a lot worse. But we always have to use the front even in the dry."