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Marquez’s hard tyres proved to be useful for him initially when he grabbed the lead from Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Aleix Espargaro, but started to lose performance by the mid-race. Rossi, who had started from form the 8th place at the grid, nearly ruined his race on the first corner, as he touched the boot of Ducati rider Andrea Iannone. Dovizioso was able to stay with Rossi, while his teammate Iannone was being hunted by LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow. At the same time Rossi’s teammate Jorge Lorenzo was stranded in sixth place for the majority of the race.
Rossi who remained in the 8th position for a couple of laps, started fighting his way ahead through the chasing pack for 10 laps before finally catching up on Marquez for the lead. Rossi seeing that he now had the upper hand was ready to pounce with just three laps to go. Marquez, who stuck to his hard rears, tried to re-take the winning position from Rossi towards the end, but touched the rear wheel of the Yamaha and dramatically crashed his Honda.
The drama further continued when British rider Crutchlow took on Ducati rider Andrea Iannone with a last gasp pass, getting him a well-deserved place at the podium. The same could not be said for fellow Ducatian Yonny Hernandez who was forced to drop his bike after it caught fire.
Commenting on his staggering win Valentino Rossi said, “It's a great victory, we made the right decision and started with the extra hard tyre. When I saw Marc start with the red one I knew that he would try to push at the beginning. I made a great start but on the first corner Iannone pushed me on the outside. Step by step I came back, and when I arrived in second Marc had a little more than four-second lead. I knew the race was long, so I knew he could have some difficulty. Catching him lap by lap, I could see him far away but coming closer and closer, it was a great taste!
Sharing his view on Marquez’s crash Rossi said, “I overtook him in braking, but he is a rider who is all or nothing, he touched me in the corner, then he touched me again as I was accelerating, I think he made a mistake and he crashed. It's a shame because it could have been a great fight on the last lap. In three races we have demonstrated we can be competitive everywhere and fight for the championship.”
Marc Marquez had some similar view on his defeat, “It’s a shame what happened, because we were having a good race! It was interesting, because our tyre choice was different from Valentino’s as I felt we were not as competitive the harder compound. The strategy was working out well for us – it’s just a pity about the last two laps. When I saw that he was closing in on me, I decided to conserve the tyres a little. On the final laps I went back to riding in the low 1'39s to check that the tyres were still in good shape, and knew that we would be fighting to the end. When he caught me, we fought for a few corners and unfortunately we touched and I crashed. I've always said that he's my idol and my reference, so you always learn things from him. Now we have to think about Jerez and begin to recover points.”
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