It certainly wasn't a knock-out blow, but Andrea Dovizioso's MotoGP🅰 title hopes look to be on the ropes after again struggling for podium pace - and losing another 13 points to Joan Mir - at Aragon on Sunday.

Having miraculously gaine🔯d championship ground despite finishing seventh the week before, after tyre problems for previous points leader Fabio Quartararo, Dovizioso's logic told him that Ducati's poor form at least meant they had the biggest poten💛tial for improvement at the second event.

But the previous back-to-back rounds served as a warning - Ducati's top result having dropped at the second of the Jerez, Red Bull Ring and Misano rounds, as their riv𝐆als made greater gains.

Avintia's Johann Zarco finally broke that pattern with a fifth place on🌠 Sunday, but for Dovizioso the race proved more difficult than the weekend before and he stumbled home in 13th place.

Starting just 17th after again failing to progress past Qualifying 1, Dovizioso climbed steadily up the order to 9th place, but began to run wide during a close battle with Aleix Espargaro, suddenly dropping backಞ to 12th.

After using the medium rear tyre last weekend, Dovizioso had joined most of his rivals on the soft, which by now was 'completely finished'. The triple MotoGP title runner-up was then overtaken by HRC test rider Stefan Bradl on th🐼e f🧜inal lap.

"At the beginning, my speed wasn't too bad in the group, but the🌱 soft tyre was too soft for everybody and the drop was huge for everybody," Dovizioso said. "But when you ride aggressively and you aওre not smooth because you are not comfortable, you use more tyre.

"And this is what happened in the race, I completely finished the tyre, I have also arm pump,🦄 but this is all the consequence of when you ride in a bad way, and you don't have the feeling."

Might Dovizioso have been🧜 better off stayin♛g on the medium?

"To say if it's the wrong tyre or right choice, ꦺI think it's more related to the way you ride," he explained. "This is a different tyre this year, but in the last two years most of the time we were able t🐠o use a softer tyre than the competitors.

"But you are only able to use that if you a♉re able to ride with a good speed a♔nd save your tyre. This is not our case.

"But the step from the soft to the medium was big [at Ar🍨agon], and almost everybody c🐠hose the soft.

"I don't know, mayb🌺e with the me𒀰dium it would be a bit better, but we are speaking about a small thing compared to the [22-second] gap at the end of the race.

"I don't think it's the choic🌄e of the tyre that created a bad situation in the race. It's just a consequence."

The other consequence is that Dovizioso has now lost fourth place in the world championship to Sunday's race winner Fr🔯anco Morbidelli and slipped 28 poi𒁏nts behind Mir.

"I don't think that it's the moment to speak about the championship. I don't have any speed to think about the ch❀ampionship,"﷽ he said.

"Strategy, or what we can do, or how many chances we have, I think in this moment almosꦐt zero.

"So I don't think it's really the moment to speak about the champion💮shi💖p. Without speed, you can't fight."

The Italian, now approaching the final three rounds of h💜is Ducati ♛career, added:

"I really don't like to rജide like this, to race like this, I don'💛t like to fight for these positions. This is really bad, I really don't like it.

"I don't want to be too negative, but at this moment to think about🍌 the opposite is difficﷺult."

Team-mate Danilo Petrucci fiꩵnished in tenth place.