Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo was more hurt by his tyre choice than the crash that ended his Motegi MotoGP race today.

The Movistar Yamaha man elected to run the harder of Michelin’s front compounds in Japan but believes the softer would have been better as he is sure he could have fought with newly-crowned world champion Marc Marquez for the win.

“I’m okay, the crash didn’t hurt me any more, this is no problem. The problem is that I didn’t finish the race and I’m very disappointed because I could go up to second place, but I lost a great opportunity,” said Lorenzo, speaking at the track.

“I’m very disappointed, because I made a mistake. I tried to push too much when the bike was not working well with the tyres. In Aragón we made a good decision with the tyres and this time it was the opposite.

“We chose the wrong front tyre, with the soft I think I would have made a better race, because my front tyre on the first laps was vibrating and closing. I didn’t have a good feeling, that’s why I couldn’t keep up with the pace of Marquez.

“Finally, because Dovizioso was coming, I pushed more than before in that corner and the front tyre didn’t give me any support or feedback and I crashed. It’s a pity, because I think we had the potential to fight for the victory with the right front tyre, but it was impossible today and we lost a great opportunity to be second in the championship.

“I want to congratulate Marquez because he didn’t have an advantage from his bike this year and he was the most consistent rider, so he deserves this championship.”

Lorenzo led early on but slipped back behind Marquez and Valentino Rossi - who went down early on - before crashing with five laps to go and handing Marquez his third premier-class title.