Ducati Marlboro rider Troy Bayliss rode to a dogged tenth-place finis🥀h in Rio yesterday, unaware that wife Kim had given birth꧂ to their third child in Monaco earlier in the day.

The Aussie, who had high expectations for the race after qualifying ⛄just a fraction of a second off the front row, rode as hard as ever but couldn't make an impact on the frontrunners.

"I tried ringing Kim this morning to see how she was going but couldn't get through, I guess she must've already been in hospital!" said Bayliss, delighted with the birth but less happy with his worst finish in a while. "The bike wasn't as great as it usually is. We made a few tiny changes after morning warm-up and maybe we made ꦗit a little worse. I rode it 100 per cent, then 110 per cent, but I never went any faster; you live and learn."

Kim gave birth to baby Oliver in Monaco, he couple's third child after Mitchell (7) and Abbey (🀅5).

"I couldn't believe it when I spoke to Kim after the race, it's great news, at least somethinꦓg goo♒d happened today!" he joked.

"We should learn a lot from today," said technical director Corrado Cecchinelli after a difficult afternoon, "and anyway, what😼 I really want to do ༺is congratulate Troy and Kim on the birth of their third child."