Factory Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso called title rival Marc Marquez ‘on another level’ as the reigning World Champion extended his lead to 58 points after another victory at the Sachsenring.

Arriving in Germany 46 points behind Marquez, with the Spaniard looking for his tenth straight victory around ‘the ring’, Dovizioso knew he woas going to have his work cut out for him.

Unfortunately for Dovizioso, Marquez did what he does around the German circuit and took the victory, whilst the Italian lost out on the final lap to his factory Ducati team-mate, bringing his GP19 home in fifth place.

“It was a difficult weekend, the race always shows the reality,” said Dovizioso.

“Practice sometimes you see some riders fast, but the race is the race. At the end me and Danilo fought for fourth and we were lucky because two fast riders crashed.

“This is a positive thing from the riders, but not the speed that we have. The gap is too big. We know Sachsenring is bad for our bike but at Assen it was very similar. Our speed at this moment is not worse, but the difference with the competitors is bigger than the past and this is bad if we want to think about the championship.

“Apart from that, Marc is on another level, Marquez and Honda. Apart from him there are a lot of fast riders faster than us. Its not good, the situation.”

When asked what he thinks Ducati need to do to fix the issues going forwards, Dovizioso said: “I think we need a strategy for the future, not for the moment.

“When we speak about turning it’s very difficult, and it’s the reason why we couldn’t find anything at the moment. We have to be more involved about that.”