Britain's Cal Crutchlow was left to rue what could have been at the Assen MotoGP round after he was an unwitting victim of the Lorenzo-Bautista crash which pushed him off track and out of contention for a podium spot in Holland.

The Monster Yamaha man was lucky not to be collected by the two bikes as they slid into the turn-one gravel trap. He re-joined in last place and pushed through to fifth place but had the same pace as team-mate Andrea Dovizioso and Ben Spies, who had a race-long scrap for the final podium spot.

“Once again I am contemplating what might have been because without the incident at the first corner I had the pace to be on the podium today. I was actually quite lucky to avoid being collected by Alvaro and Jorge but I still had to run off track and I was last. I'm glad Jorge was not hurt because the job he has done for Yamaha this season has been incredible and he didn't deserve that today," said Crutchlow.

"Alvaro was way too fast and I know he didn't do that intentionally but you have to be sensible when braking from high-speed for a tight first corner like that. Like in Silverstone I was right at the back but just decided to get my head down and recover as many places as possible. I had a really good battle with the Ducatis but I had a faster pace, although I had one big moment when I lost the front on lap eight and had to do all the hard work again.

"To be at the back and still come through to fifth is a fantastic result. But there is no doubt I should have been in the battle with Andrea and Ben. With my ankle still causing me a lot of pain and coming from last to fifth, I can't be too disappointed and I leave here still fourth in the World Championship and that is very important.”