Why late podium charge against Bagnaia gave Di Giannantonio goosebumps

VR46 Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio said he felt goosebumps as he celebrated third place at his home MotoGP track Mugello at the Italian Grand Prix.

Starting from seventh, Di Giannantonio fought his way through the pack and closed in on Francesco Bagnaia, before pulling off a late-race overtake to take third place – his maiden premier class podium at his home event.

Despite being unable to challenge Marc Marquez who took victory and his brother Alex in second, the 26-year-old still felt reaching the rostrum was “a real dream”.

“It’s fantastic,” he said. “You grow up watching MotoGP races and watching Vale and Capirossi, Biaggi being on the podium. Italian riders being on the podium with special helmets, special liveries, in front of an amazing crowd with all the fans. You see it as a real dream.

“When I was fourth, and it was like five laps till the end, I said on every lap like, ‘not P4, not P4. Today is not a P4 race’.

“So I pushed until the end, I gave everything, and it paid off because at the end we did quite an aggressive overtake to Pecco, but it was the only way to overtake him because he was really strong on the braking, and we took this podium.”

He added: “The feeling on the podium was fantastic. I wanted to stand on the pitwall with all the people down [below]. I wanted to feel that kind of feeling, and it was amazing. I remember I had goosebumps down my leather suit. It’s a day to remember.”

Di Giannantonio was closing in on Alex Marquez, finishing just under two tenths behind the Spanish rider, but felt starting too far back on the grid denied him the chance to fight for second.

“My race overall has been long,” Di Giannantonio said. “Long, because as always, we don’t do a super qualifying.

“So now we say, with a couple more laps, maybe, I could catch Alex. But the truth is that I have to start more in front. I have to start maximum the first two rows if I want to fight with them.

“Because, you do a super comeback, you push the bike, you push yourself to the limit, but it’s not the way to win the race. At the end, if you want to fight with Alex when he’s at top form, or Marc when he’s winning races, you have to start at least with them.”

The result marks another positive step for the VR46 team, as it now has a total of four podiums under its belt split evenly between Di Giannantonio and Franco Morbidelli. Di Giannantonio is fifth in the standings on 120 points, while Morbidelli is fourth with 128.

Fabio Di Giannantonio, VR46 Racing Team, Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing, Marc Marquez, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

But ahead of Mugello, Di Giannantonio had endured a small dip in form with a pair of ninth places in GPs in Silverstone and Aragon, so the podium came as a welcome result for the Italian rider.

“It’s fantastic for me, for us, for the way we are coming back to the top form that we lost the last few GPs,” he added. “It also gives us super motivation for the future for the next races. We must continue like this and for sure want to close the gap with these guys in the front.”