"A tough day" for Marquez

Repsol Honda rider takes eighth straight win of 2014 at the Dutch TT, after starting in the wet, changing bikes and finishing in the dry. Dani Pedrosa takes another podium finish with third. Race after race, Marc Marquez continues breaking records –whatever the rivals and circumstances. Even in conditions that no rider wishes to encounter, with intermittent rain, a drying track and a change of bikes required, the Repsol Honda rider achieved his eighth consecutive win of the season at the Dutch TT. Such a feat has not been achieved since Mick Doohan in 1997 –who extended his run to 10 wins. Joining him on the podium was Dani Pedrosa, third to cross the finish line after Andrea Dovizioso. There was uncertainty 15 minutes before the start of the race as a shower fell on the Assen circuit on a day of intermittent rain. This forced a delay to the start and the teams prepared their bikes for a wet race. When the red lights finally went out, Marquez took the holeshot and had Dovizioso on his tail for several corners. The two exchanged overtakes early on, as Dani Pedrosa and Aleix Espargaro had their own duel behind the leading two. However, the race changed on Lap 6, when all riders had come in to change bikes after seeing that the track was dry enough for slick tyres. Just a few corners after rejoining the action, Marquez made a mistake which left Dovizioso in the lead, and the difference between the two extended to more than four seconds at one point. Lap by lap, Marquez regained pace until, with ten laps remaining, he got past the Italian and continued on to win number eight. Pedrosa was third, having escaped from Espargaro in the tussle for the podium. After eight races, Marquez continues to lead the World Championship. With 200 points, he holds a 72 point advantage over Valentino Rossi and Pedrosa in joint second. In a fortnight’s time, the season reaches its halfway point in Germany. Marc Marquez
"It was a tough day because this was a race where I could have lost many points, but we were still able to extend our lead in the Championship so I'm very pleased with how it has gone and how we dealt with the flag-to-flag. It was our first experience of a race like this, with both wet and dry conditions, and we even had a little scare after the bike change. We are very happy with this victory and to have got a very important 25 points on a weekend we had circled on the calendar". Dani Pedrosa
"It was a very difficult race and was even a bit chaotic at first, when it came to having to decide which tyres to put on the bike. I kept a cool head and chose the option of wets, because at first the track was a little damp. I should have pushed more on the opening laps –but I chose not to in case it rained again– as the track began to dry out. The rain didn’t come and I had a good fight with Aleix for the podium in the dry. I am happy to have taken the rostrum finish, because you never know how races like today’s might go, but this one went well for us and we are now focusing on doing a good job in Germany".