Pecco Bagnaia's assured victory in the Motegi MotoGP sprint was a massive change to the recent performance picture - made even more notable by the fact it was a Saturday race.
While this is counter-intuitive, as the sprint is half of the distance of the main race and is worth fewer points, Bagnaia has historically found things much harder in Saturday races than Sundays - putting it down to a lack of feel on the Ducati when it has the 12-litre sprint fuel tank in it (rather than the 22-litre fuel tank for the grand prix).
His recent performances in sprints had been particularly atrocious. In the seven sprints between Assen and Misano, Bagnaia scored just eight points - a number he comfortably exceeded with the Motegi win all by itself.
Asked by The Race whether being a sprint actually made the win more significant, he said: "Yes. It's a sprint, so yes. Yes."
Asked whether he had any of his familiar sprint issues, he said: "No. Not today."
The overall picture
But even the sprint aspect of it aside, the Motegi performance has looked drastically different to the rest of Bagnaia's season, and certainly to his very difficult recent run of form.
"A big relief, after one of the hardest periods in my MotoGP career," he acknowledged. "Because it's true that also in the past I had these kind of moments. But, after winning two titles and after finishing in the last four seasons always in the top two, and living this last period, I think it was one of the hardest moments.
"And being able again to push, to control, to do what I did during this weekend is a big relief. Not just for the result, but also for myself.
"That I always believed, I always said to the journalists, to you, that if I will feel good again, if I ever feel good again on my bike, I will be able to fight again for the top results, and this is the result of feeling good on the bike."
Work in the Monday test after the Misano race appears to have been crucial to this, though details of what exactly changed on the bike - and whether there's been a key component change rather than just usual set-up work - aren't available yet.
Bagnaia himself insisted he "doesn't really know" what the difference is on the bike - but he acknowledged that set-up alone probably couldn't account for this, intimating that there must have been a bigger change. There had been a growing disparity in recent months between Ducati's suggestions Bagnaia's problems were mainly psychological and confidence-based, and the rider's insistence something fundamental needed changing on his bike.
"Because the difference is huge,"Bagnaia replied when asked if the change ahead of Motegi was just set-up or actual component differences. "In the test in Misano I was riding seven tenths faster [than in the race] - so quite a huge difference.
"What we did in Misano helped me a lot to feel good again on braking, to feel good again on entry, and controlling. Also with the team, I was speaking today, that before the test in Misano I was pushing the same and I was not knowing if I was one tenth faster or one tenth slower. I was not riding my bike [in control].
"And today, when I decided to do the pole lap, I did the pole lap. So... this is what I was able to do in the past, what I learned to do in the past. It was something that I was starting to forget.
"Today I did the sprint race in control - I pushed in the first laps, then I opened the gap and I arrived at 2.9 seconds [clear], and then I was controlling.
"This is great to me, it's great for the team, for the mood of the team also. The only shame is just that we needed 16 races. But it is what it is. Better than never."
A possible caveat
Bagnaia's road back to MotoGP frontrunner status has hinged on resolving three issues: the first being digging himself out of his current performance hole, the second being finding a more consistent performance in the sprint, and the third being the battle against one of the most dominant team-mates in MotoGP history in Marc Marquez.
Motegi can plausibly be taken as evidence all three of those issues are trending the right way. But while Bagnaia has had Marquez's number so far at Motegi, the appearance so far is that Marquez is not operating at his peak.
The soon-to-be-seven-time MotoGP champion admitted on Saturday that he's "not riding perfect" and feeling "heavier than usual" as he tries to ensure the title race is concluded.
He had been in this situation before, but said this one was different.
"I would say that in the past I didn't value in a good way the championships," he said. "And now I know that this one, the price in all the aspects, I paid a lot - and yeah, let's see. I feel closer and closer every day, then I feel some extra weight on my shoulders."
The fact his only mathematical rival, brother Alex Marquez, was struggling more than usual was making Marc "even more conservative than usual".
"Always I try to be honest - and I said already on Thursday, the main target for this GP is to close the championship," he insisted.
"I said like this. I don't care about the victory, I don't care who wins, I don't care who finishes third- I'm happy for Pecco, he did an incredible race, looks like he's come back, but apart from that I don't care.
"I just want to close. It's true that I will have more 'match points', it's true that if tomorrow something happens I will come here and I will say 'don't worry, next week we'll have another chance'. But let's see if we can close tomorrow."
