American Colin Edwards missed out on a podium at Jerez when his bike stopped.

Former Superbike hero Colin Edwards says his mechanical problem while in contention for a MotoGP podium at Jerez was a tough pill to swallow since those opportunities don’t come easy.

Edwards was in a podium position when his Monster Energy Tech 3 Yamaha had a fuelling problem of sorts with just one lap to run, ruling him out of the race in a bitter finish to an action-packed race.

“That’s pretty tough to take because getting a podium in MotoGP is not something you get chance to get every week,” Edwards said. “The race was unbelievable because it was all about who could keep it on two wheels the longest.

“I was quite a way back at one stage but just didn’t want to do anything stupid and crash and I just felt more and more confident to push.

“Nicky [Hayden] came back to me really quickly and I knew I’d have no problem passing him because he was in trouble with his tyres. I didn’t have a lot more grip but I pulled away from him and the podium was right in front of me.

“The bike didn’t feel great coming out of the last corner to start the last lap and by the time I got to the first corner it just stopped. Obviously I’m disappointed but I can’t change what happened.

“I wanted that podium for my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 because they are awesome. But we move on and try to bounce back at Estoril.”

Teammate Cal Crutchlow was one of the many crashers during the race, although he remounted to finish in the top 10.

“I never thought I’d crash in MotoGP and still get a top ten 10!” he said. “That was an unbelievable race and not one of the easiest I’ve had in my career. The conditions were so unpredictable that it was hard to get any grip.

“When I got into fifth I felt pretty comfortable though I wanted it to rain again because the tyres were wearing pretty fast. I was gaining on Nicky [Hayden] really quick and he was in fourth, so there’s no doubt the way I was catching him that I was thinking about a podium.

“I’ve nothing to lose so I was pushing and I went down at Turn Nine. I’m not going to be too hard on myself crashing when I was battling for a podium in MotoGP.”