Championship leader reveals reason behind celebrating win with a lap to go: 'I wasn't sure'

The Moto2 championship leader was in a battle for victory with Daniel Holgado, Filip Salac and Ivan Ortola, and crossed the finish line in first place with one lap still to go.

However, Gonzalez began celebrating too early and started slowing down, similarly to what Aleix Espargaro did four years ago at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya when he was running in second place behind Fabio Quartararo. As a result, Holgado made slight contact with his bike, damaging it in the process, which meant that the Spaniard finished the race in 14th place.

Speaking to DAZN, he explained what happened: "The thing is, I crossed the finish line there thinking it was the last lap, but I wasn't entirely sure they'd given me the chequered flag, and I don't know, I really don't know how to explain it.

The youngster then apologized to his team. "I apologize to the team for the mistake and bad luck, because it was a race to win, but, well, you always have to find the positives."

As a result, Gonzalez's closest rival in the standings, Izan Guevara, managed to close the gap to the Intact GP rider after finishing in fifth place. The gap between the two riders now stands at 40.5 points. The Moto2 race was eventually won by Filip Salac, who became the first Czech rider to win in Moto2 since Karel Abraham did so 16 years ago.