Lenovo Ducati’s Jack Miller has revealed that not only did his rear tyre ‘fall off a cliff’ halfway through the opening MotoGP of the season, he was also the victim of an unidentified vibration problem.

The Australian wouldn’t be drawn on what the cause was but said he was left in purgatory and unable to do anything about it.

“We suffered a strange vibration coming from the rear, made me not able to carry the corner speed as I’d like and in the end I was not able to ride as I’d like,” said Miller, speaking at the track this afternoon.

“I was trying the other strategy and for me it was going perfectly until 11, 12 laps to go I started pushing and like eight laps from the end I went off a cliff.

“So, like I said, we know the situation. My plan and my strategy I felt was good, so I just need to go back, reset and start again.

“It’s difficult to say what I can say about it. It was just tyre-related, a one-off thing.

“Sort of started a little earlier, but I really started to have issues with the eight laps to go.

“I felt like was in purgatory, not able to go forwards, not able to go backwards, just stuck there.”