Repsol Honda factory rider Jorge Lorenzo was apologetic after his mistake on the second lap of the race took out Andrea Dovizioso, Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

After a strong start, Lorenzo was into fourth place and looking to move under Vinales. On the second lap at turn ten, Lorenzo went to move under Vinales, only to lose the front end of his RC213V. His bike slammed straight into the side of Dovizioso’s Ducati, collecting Vinales and Rossi on the way.

Lorenzo was extremely apologetic, owning up to his mistake, admitting he would have preferred to crash alone than with those three.

“I got away well and made up many places thanks to a few mistakes by some riders in the traffic,” said the Spaniard.

“I could see I was braking well and through the previous turn Marquez and Vinales were holding each other up. Maverick closed the throttle and I moved closer in the slipstream.

“I tried to pass him but had already reached the corner, so to avoid Dovizioso I had to brake harder, which cause the front to fold on me.

“In the last three or four years, we’ve seen many episodes like this. Today I made the mistake and the thing I’m really sorry about is that I caused Andrea, Maverick and Valentino to crash. I would have preferred to crash alone.

“Traffic through those turns in the first part of the race leads to these. I made a mistake today and I’m sorry for them, I wish that only I had crashed.”

Maverick Vinales has called for Lorenzo to be demoted to the back of the grid in Assen. Lorenzo says he understands Vinales’ frustrations.

“I understand Maverick's reaction because in the past it has happened to me and I had a similar reaction to him,” he said.

“I understand completely his reaction, I cannot say anything. I'm grateful that Valentino said what I said. I also spoke with Dovi and he took my apology quite well but obviously no apology is enough.

"I understand all the reactions. I have had  a bad reactions or hard reactions in the past when it happened to me. This is racing and I’ll try to learn the lesson for these types of corner for the future.”