Marc Marquez described todays Dutch MotoGP at Assen as a ‘crazy race’, with the defending World Champion extending his lead atop the MotoGP World Championship standings.

Marquez came out on top of a MotoGP classic around the historical Dutch circuit, which saw upwards of eight riders battling for the lead at one point in the race. Marquez eventually took the lead and managed to hold off the chasing pack with three laps to go to win the race by just over two seconds from Alex Rins and Maverick Vinales.

“I don’t now how to describe, it was a crazy race,” said the 25-year-old.

“There was a big group and we were fighting against everybody, it was amazing! The conditions were very difficult on the track because the wind was pushing a lot and all the back straight and fast corners, when you were behind somebody it was easier and also difficult to open a gap.

“Then, Lorenzo was pushing a lot, I tried to overtake him but he overtook me and then I was not able to keep the same rhythm or have the same rhythm like in from practice.

“Then I said, OK, we will wait but in the middle of this transition we have many moments, with Rins, with Maverick with everybody. We were fighting against everybody and in the end I was clever.

“I was just waiting and when I see ‘F7’, I said now I will give everything. I will push all what I have and use all of the tyre.

“I was able to open a gap and then when I see 0.2, it was good because then I was able to do my lines. The problem is that here, when you just try to use your lines to be fast, you prepare a lot the corner and then everybody was overtaking you, but when I see a small advantage, I said now is the time to use my lines and then I was able to have the same pace in the practice.”

One particularly hairy moment for Marquez was when he had a coming together Strubben. After handlebars came together, Marquez nearly fell off the side of his RC213V, but he somehow stayed on, but he’s not even sure how.

“I don’t know how I stayed on, even me, and I just see a photo and it was crazy,” he said. “I remember that Rins, we have contact, and he touched me but in the end it was my mistake because I was outside and when you are outside, you need to understand who is inside, has the advantage.

“I was there and I had the contact and then I nearly fell from the bike. The left foot, the left hand and even the clutch lever was down and in the middle of the straight I was trying to adjust, it was crazy.

“Then also with Maverick, another moment in Turn 9 when we have contact and I released completely the brake because I had a contact in the right arm and I was out of the track. It was difficult to manage but in the end we were very smart, very focused and very precise.”

With the win Marquez extended his lead atop the World Championship to 27 points over second played Valentino Rossi. With the season not even at it’s mid season point, Marquez is aware of what his lead can mean.

“Of course I expect that maybe Valentino and Vinales would be very strong and they were strong, but we were stronger,” said Marquez.

“This is the most important in a circuit where we normally struggle a little bit. When I cross the finish line the adrenalin was there and then when I checked the bigger screen and see Rins was there, I was even happier because the advantage is even bigger and this is something that we need to take profit of.”