Andrea Dovizoso has dismissed claims that Ducati team-mate Jorge Lorenzo was holding him up and should have moved aside as instructed by the team, saying the pair were riding right on the limit and didn’t have anything else in the tank.

Dovizoso had the slimmest chance of taking his first MotoGP world title yesterday but needed to win and for Marc Marquez to finish lower than 11th. Marquez tried his hardest to comply, almost crashing at turn one, but then Italian rode into the gravel after losing time on Lorenzo on lap 24 as his soft rear gave up.

“At the beginning I wanted to overtake Jorge, but in some corners I was slower, at the end he created a good pace. It was good for me to follow him, I could stay with them, but we were riding past the limit the whole race. We both made a mistake. We have to be happy, happy about the championship,” said Dovizioso, speaking at the track.

“At the beginning I was a little bit faster in some parts of the track but in the last part of the track I was so slow. During the weekend I take a minimum of three tenths per lap from Jorge. In the race I was better – much better – but still I was slower.

“In the middle of the track I was able to overtake but I couldn’t find a way. But after a few laps he started to ride in a better way and I had the same pace as him. And I was completely on the limit like him. So after five laps we push 100 percent from the beginning until the end. We had the same pace as the leaders but we were pushing over the limit all of the race.

“That’s why Jorge crashed and I crashed. We didn’t have that pace. We were not so far. We’re speaking about two tenths, but when you’re pushing so hard two tenths can be big. So that’s what happened and apart from the first few laps. Just because Jorge tried to help me to be smooth than the weekend doesn’t mean that I was smooth.”