You don’t win nine world titles by being negative and defending champion Tony Cairoli was looking on the bright side after twice being caught and passed by his Red Bull KTM team-mate Jeffrey Herlings at Valkenswaard.

“The weekend was good,” said the Italian. “We knew that at this race we would struggle a little bit because it has been a long time since I’ve trained in Belgium or Holland.

“Jeffrey was very fast and we knew that on this track he would be but we managed to finish on the podium and a second place is good for the championship.”