Stoner was diagnosed with fatigue a couple of months ago and was told by his doctors to take a period of time off racing in order to get better. Although many have argued that this was simply an excuse for his lack of form in the championship, Stoner now proved everyone that this wasn't the case.
In good physical shape, Stoner performed great at Estoril and grabbed his 6th podium of the season.
“We knew we had the speed but getting back into race mode is a little bit difficult. When you take this long off in the middle of the season, it's a little bit difficult to switch on the race head again,” said Stoner, therefore admitting he had a rough time getting back into racing form last weekend.
“I know there were a lot of people saying 'it's all in his head' and even some doctors thought it was in my head, but all I know is I've never felt so bad in my life as I did after those races. To not be competitive like that was terrible for me.”
“I really had the strength in the race, it was awesome, I was up for it. It was great to be fighting early but I lost footrest and that made it a bit harder. Physically, in last few laps I was still not ready, but we're really happy to be second and to come back from these problems and silence the critics,” added the Australian rider.
Stoner's runner-up spot brought him closer to 3rd placed in the overall classification Dani Pedrosa, as he now trails the Spaniard by only 3 points.
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