Rossi fends off Marquez in Assen thriller

Valentino Rossi came through a thrilling duel with Marc Marquez to win the MotoGP Dutch Grand Prix at Assen.

The Yamaha rider was put under intense pressure from Marquez throughout but the nine-time world champion managed to hang on to claim victory despite a final lap lunge from his rival.

While Rossi and Marquez dominated the race at the front, Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo endured a lonely ride to claim the final place on the podium.

Rossi led the majority of the race from pole position while Marquez immediately slotted into second spot and began to apply pressure on the Italian.

The duo quickly moved away from a fast starting Lorenzo, who jumped from eighth on the grid to third on the opening lap.

All eyes were focussed on the battle for the lead which took an interesting twist when Marquez leapt passed Rossi at Turn 1 to grab the lead with seven laps remaining.

However, Rossi fought back to regain the position four laps later to set up a fascinating climax.

The Yamaha man punched in two fast laps to gap Marquez but the Spaniard responded by trying to pass Rossi with an audacious move at the final corner.

The pair made light contact which forced Rossi to cut the final corner, but it failed to prevent him from taking the chequered flag from Marquez, with Lorenzo a distant third.

Rossi’s victory has seen him open up a 10 point lead in the championship standings.

Ducati’s Andrea Iannone came home in fourth while Tech 3 Yamaha’s Pol Espargaro won a titanic scrap for fifth position.

LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow was sixth just a tenth behind Espargaro, but crucially ahead of his former team-mate Bradley Smith.

Honda’s Dani Pedrosa finished eighth in front of the Suzuki duo of Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales.

It proved to a disappointing race for Australia’s Jack Miller as he was involved in a heavy opening lap crash with Hector Barbera.

Miller escaped the crash on foot while Barbera was stretchered to the circuit’s medical centre.

Result: MotoGP Dutch Grand Prix, Assen

Position	Rider	Bike	Laps	Gap
1	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	26
2	Marc Márquez	Honda	26	+1.242s
3	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha	26	+14.576s
4	Andrea Iannone	Ducati	26	+19.109s
5	Pol Espargaró	Yamaha	26	+24.268s
6	Cal Crutchlow	LCR Honda	26	+24.373s
7	Bradley Smith	Tech 3 Yamaha	26	+24.442s
8	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	26	+24.656s
9	Aleix Espargaró	Suzuki	26	+26.725s
10	Maverick Viñales	Suzuki	26	+27.238s
11	Danilo Petrucci	Pramac Ducati	26	+29.038s
12	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	26	+29.418s
13	Scott Redding	Marc VDS Honda	26	+46.663s
14	Yonny Hernández	Pramac Ducati	26	+49.305s
15	Loris Baz	Forward Yamaha	26	+52.396s
16	Nicky Hayden	Aspar Honda	26	+56.005s
17	Álvaro Bautista	Gresini Aprilia	26	+59.857s
18	Mike Di Meglio	Avintia Ducati	26	+1:14.513s
19	Marco Melandri	Gresini Aprilia	25	1 Lap
DNF	Alex de Angelis	ART/Aprilia	23	Retirement
DNF	Eugene Laverty	Aspar Honda	15	Retirement
DNF	Stefan Bradl	Forward Yamaha	5	Retirement
DNF	Jack Miller	LCR Honda	0	Retirement
DNF	Héctor Barberá	Avintia Ducati	0	Retirement

MotoGP Championship Standings

Pos	Rider	Points
1	Valentino Rossi	163
2	Jorge Lorenzo	153
3	Andrea Iannone	107
4	Marc Márquez	89
5	Andrea Dovizioso	87
6	Bradley Smith	77
7	Cal Crutchlow	57
8	Pol Espargaró	56
9	Maverick Viñales	52
10	Daniel Pedrosa	47
11	Danilo Petrucci	44
12	Aleix Espargaró	38
13	Scott Redding	30
14	Yonny Hernández	28
15	Héctor Barberá	16
16	Loris Baz	14
17	Álvaro Bautista	11
18	Jack Miller	11
19	Stefan Bradl	9
20	Michele Pirro	8
21	Nicky Hayden	8
22	Eugene Laverty	7
23	Hiroshi Aoyama	5
24	Mike Di Meglio	2
25	Alex de Angelis	1