After finishing third in the Catalan MotoGP sprint, Vinales led more than half of the grand prix as he💛 came within a secon꧋d of victory.

Ha♐d he held off teammate Aleix Espargaro then t💮he Spaniard would have secured his first win for Aprilia, however, Espargaro proved too strong once again. 

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Vinales, who has had a g🎐reat relationship with Espargaro for many years, something that has also bee♒n true about his time with Aprilia, admitted he needed to be convinced to join the Noale-based brand.

"Three years ago we🍷 were talking in his [Espargaro’s] motorhome and I was not sure whether to do it because it’s🥃 difficult to make a bet like that with a really good contract [at Yamaha]. 

"But I bet on myself, I bet on Aprilia. Of course, Aleix had a lot ꦿof weight be꧅cause like he said, two good riders, two strong riders can do much more than one. 

"Ev🍒ery day we are pushing the factory. You see how much we pushed the factory in Austria to bring something here fo൲r the start, and they did it. 

"They had a good response.🃏 Step-by-step we can dream. Th🐈at is so, so good."

Vinales left Yamaha in 2021 after his relationship with the Japanese manufacturer came to𒆙 an explosive end.

A race wi🍷nner with Suzuki and Yamaha, Vinales then joined Aprilia where he now feels like he is respected and valued. 

"I want for people to understand that in this sport a rider has to feel the value," said Vinales. "In this team I feel like I have a lot of valu꧋e, a lot of respect and this is very important because I wasn’t treated in a good way in the past. 

"Today, this kind of feeling with the team - today is the bes🍎t day of my career on a motorcycle. 

"What I saw with the people, with myself, my wife, was unbeliev♏able."