Michelin’s hard asymmetric front tyre taken to Mugello cost Marc Marquez dearly as he crashed out of MotoGP contention this afternoon.

The World Champion had been complaining about the front tyre for the entire weekend, saying the asymmetric front wasn’t doing more harm than good but the medium front tyre didn’t last race distance.

Marquez said that it has been a year since his last crash in a race, which is also when the last time Michelin bought the asymmetric hard front to the circuit.

“It’s difficult because yesterday I said many times that this is a race to take points and a race to finish the race,” said the Spaniard.

“I knew this before the start, but it has been a year since my last crash in a race and it’s been a year since Michelin brought these tyres.

“We’ve tried to change the bike during this weekend to try and work much better with the front tyre. I tried to manage because the medium was the tyre that normally is the standard allocation but for me, it was impossible to finish the race.

“I was trying to manage with the hard front but then I arrived in turn ten and I lost the front and tried to save and it was impossible but a part of that, even though we were sliding a lot we were there on the pace so this is something we need to consider for the future. Still we are 23 points in front.”

Despite being in a podium position when he crashed out of the race, Marquez said he believes that a podium would’ve been the maximum he could’ve managed with Lorenzo too fast today.

“I wouldn’t have caught Lorenzo,” he said. “The podium was possible because after the crash, even though the bike was not perfect, I was still on a good pace, a similar pace to the podium guys.

“But Lorenzo today was faster than everybody today, he managed a lot of the situation and yeah we tried but it was impossible. But when I was riding alone later I nearly crashed maybe ten times, I mean this race is one we must forget because like I said the tyre allocation was so special for us.

“It’s not an excuse because for everybody it was the same but it is something that we don’t like with my riding style.”

Even after the crash, Marquez’ lead is still 23 points over Valentino Rossi, something which he was keen to point out.

“What I learned is I cannot crash again but this is something that I already knew,” Marquez said.

“We are only human and sometimes we make mistakes, but it has been a year since I last crashed in the race. I am disappointed but the most important thing is I am 23 points clear in the championship and this time last year we were 27 back.”