Avintia Ducati’s Hector Barbera has slammed MotoGP rookie Jack Miller for the Assen crash which saw the Spaniard get his leg tangled in the rear wheel of the Aussie’s Open Honda RC213V-RS.

The pair collided at the Geert Timmer chicane on the opening lap with Barbera saying he is angry with Miller because, even though he is new to the series, he should know you can’t win a race on lap one.

I’m angry, because it’s sickening when things like this happen. I was looking forward to this race, in Barcelona was the same and I couldn’t show my performance, and here it happened again… I was convinced that today I could be the best Open bike and we had been working really hard during the weekend to find myself confortable on the bike,” said Barbera.

“In warm-up I made 35.2 with a 27-lap rear tyre and everything was set to make a good race. But the rece was finished for me before I complete the first lap, Miller missed the brakes going in to the last chicane and he hit me. I don’t really know was he was thinking about, because it was impossible for him to make the turn.

“I was lucky to walk away unhurt because it was a bad crash; my right leg was caught with the rear wheel of his bike. I know Miller is a rookie, he has no experience with these bikes, but you have to be clever, because the race was 26 laps, and you can’t win in the first one.”

Miller replied, saying he was nudged from behind by someone: “Coming into the last corner I tried to pass Bautista but my rear tyre overtook my front tyre and I got a little nudge from someone. It was unfortunate because I felt quite good here all weekend and my pace wasn’t so bad, so to end it like this was a shame.”