Valentino Rossi's hopes of a top-six Aragon finish ended after less than a l🧜ap on Sunday, when the Ducati star tangled with Jonathan Re𝕴a under braking for the final turn.

Rossi came close to clipping the Ulsterman ahead of him, before r๊unning straigh⛦t on and re-joining in 21st and last place.

The Italian, runner-up at the previous Misano round, then worked his way back up to eighth by the chequered flag. In the process, Rossi set the eighth fastest lap of the race, 1.6s slower🍨 than winner Dani Pedrosa (Honda).

"It's a shame about the mistake on the first lap," said Rossi. "I was a bit faster than Rea, and when we spread out on the straightaway, and he braked a bit earlier, I went to the right. He couldn't see me and pushed ꦬme close to the curb, and I went straight to avoid him. I would have 🍒had to go to the inside, not the outside.

"Without that incident, I think I could have fought with Bautista for sixth place, w൩hich was our🎀 potential at this track today. In fact, things went better in the race than in practice, when we suffered a lot on acceleration both in the wet and in the dry.

"We made s🥂ome changes after the warm-up, and that helped us to lap consistently at a decent pace for the whole race, without using up the tyres too much. This is a positive sign, considering that we were also able to do that at Mis🍎ano.

"There's still much work to do, but it's also true that for us this was probably the most diff🍒icult track among those left on the calendar, so we hope to be more competitive at Motegi in two weeks."

Aragon marked Rossi's second race with a new Ducati chassis and swing-arm. Team manager Vittoriano Guareschi felt that the poor practice weather hit them especially hard, but was impressed with the set-up decisions.

"With the new frame and swingarm, it's a period when we needed to ride as much as possible, but the only dry session was qualifying, when it was more important to do a good time than to 𒉰try different settings," he said.

"We had the warm-up this morning, and I must say that the team did a good job of finding solutions🃏 that allowed Vale to ride until the end at a good pace, without wearing the tyres too much."

Rไossi's team-mate Nicky Hayden suffered a dramatic accident on the second lap, but was later declared as fit for the forthcoming Japanese round.