Monster Yamaha’s Jonas Folger settled for second in yesterday’s Sachsenring MotoGP after a couple of mistakes while trying to stay with leader Marc Marquez in the closing laps were warning enough that he was on the edge.

Rookie Folger rode an incredible race and didn’t drop any further than half a second behind the works Honda man as the pair were the only riders to regularly lap in the 1’21s but a late surge by Marquez meant Folger had to decide that discretion was the better part of valour.

“I knew from the warm-up I had a great pace; I was following Marc and Dani and I saw that my third sector was really strong and I was passing Dani there and Marc there. I was even leading the race and I couldn't believe I was leading here in Sachsenring, so it was a really nice moment,” said Folger, speaking at the track.

“At the end I let Marc go because he has the most experience and I tried to stay behind him. To be honest I learned many things behind him; I tried to save tyres, I tried different lines and different styles and at the end I wasn't quite sure that I could stay behind him.

“I was more than sure that I would try to attack him on the last lap but unfortunately with four laps to go, I made a mistake. Marc was pushing really hard on braking to improve lap times. The tyres were dropping and I made the same mistake and went really wide, lost more than a second, and tried to recover.

“I almost crashed two or three times trying to catch him so I said, 'OK, I tried everything I could’, so I stayed in second place and let him win. It was a great experience and I enjoyed a lot riding with Marc and Dani and I learned a lot."