MotoGP, Photos of KTM celebrating Pedrosa's Sprint podium in the paddock

At the first light of Saturday, Sabadell's 3-time world champion, Daniel Pedrosa, thought he was facing a "simple" wild card at the Jerez circuit. There was no doubt that the Spanish champion, test rider for KTM since 2018, would still be extremely competitive.

But maybe Pedrosa himself wasn't able to foresee the events of the Sprint in which, despite a difficult qualification where he failed to make it into the Q1 because of the numerous falls during the race, he then ended up fighting, unaware, for the podium against an equally surprised Quartararo.

Once he returned to the garage (still unaware of the fact that he came very close to the podium), he was ironically assisted by a tire-pressure penalty imposed on Quartararo. So the Spanish rider got the bronze medal in the Sprint, after the celebrations were already over.

It was a pity that the Spanish rider's fans couldn't pay tribute to him at the first corner to celebrate the podium, but KTM thought to make up for the "let down" with private celebrations among the trucks in the paddock.

Photo ©Pierluca Brunetti