Wounded Petrucci "not happy" despite heroic comeback ride

Petrucci, who missed the first four races of the season after breaking his hand in a pre-season testing crash, rallied to end an attrition-heavy French Grand Prix as the top Ducati rider.

However, the Italian admitted after the race that he had wanted to be closer to the frontrunners.

"Every lap was difficult," Petrucci said. "I missed so many races, when I made one mistake, I [then] made a mistake in every corner.

"This morning I woke up, I feel very tired. I crashed in February, and then I did two sessions in Qatar - and then I didn't ride anything, not even my scooter.

"I'm not happy with the pace because at the beginning, the first half of the race, I was not so fast. But without any test, without four races, we finish in the top 10 - with some luck, for sure.

"But I want a little bit more. We know we can stay a little bit closer to the others in front so we keep on working and maybe Mugello, my home race, the circuit helps me a little bit."

As the Italian was speaking to the press, he was congratulated on a job well done by teammate Scott Redding, who had retired from the race due to an engine failure.

Difficult to stay on the bike

In a race that saw eight different riders dump their bikes, Petrucci held on, but he described himself as "a little bit lucky today. It was very difficult to stay up.

"After five or six laps, the front tyre start to close and there were a lot of crashes, most of all in the same corners.

"I was constantly slower but in the end I was quite fast, set my best lap with three laps to go."

Back in the rider market picture

With the MotoGP silly season in full swing already, Petrucci reckoned it was important for him to do well on his return.

"The rumours about the next year start even before the first race, so this makes a lot of pressure on every one of us riders.

"I'm happy to come back and show everyone that, yes, I'm still here."

Additional reporting by Michael Duforest