Movistar Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales has described the crash that cost him his lead in the MotoGP championship at Assen today as the strangest in his life.

It was the second non-finish of the season for the Spaniard after his YZR-M1 took to the tarmac at the Geert Timmer chicane and handed Andrea Dovizioso - who finished fifth - a four-point lead at the top of the points table.

“It was the strangest fall of my life. The bike made a strange movement that I had not experienced all weekend. There are days when it’s time to learn, and what we have to learn today is that I cannot afford to be 11th on the grid. That forces you to treat the race like a sprint with no time to think,” said Vinales, speaking at the track.

“Once I was able to overtake Iannone and Bautista, riders who braked very late, I knew I would get ahead. Seeing how I was on Friday, I was hoping to win. I had the pace do it. I’m still four points from the championship leader, I’ve been like this this season but I’ve recovered pretty well from one race to another.

“I can’t explain what happened because I don’t even know how I crashed. I’ve passed through there 2000 times and didn’t crash. It's something you cannot explain, you can just learn, especially about the qualifying. I knew this morning it would be tricky. I did my best, it was everything or nothing and finally I got nothing.

“I was feeling great. I was trying to maintain the tyres on a good level. I was preparing an attack for the last ten laps. I was in a good way, I was really smooth on all the track. I felt much more strong than the other riders.

“I was pushing myself over the limit. I was trying to bring the Yamaha to the top. I think if I didn’t crash I could make the victory for sure because our pace was much faster than the front guys. Anyway, in some races the fastest does not win and finally we have to learn from that.”