PICTURES: Colin's last corner heartbreak.

After three years in MotoGP, Colin Edwards came within metres of a brilliant debut victory at Assen on Saturday - only for disaster to strike seconds after arriving at the final chicane side-by-side with Nicky Hayden.

Edwards had led the way from the first turn and set an electrifying pace that only world championship leader Hayden could ultimately follow. With two laps remaining Hayden closed in and made his first lunge for the lead, forcing Edwards off the track and onto the escape road.

That cost the 'Texas Tornado' over one second and he looked consigned to second place, but produced a stunning fight-back to pull level with Hayden on the final lap and retake the lead with just a few corners to go.

When Hayden launched one last attack into the final chicane, only to run straight onto the gravel, Edwards seemed certain to win - but there was one final twist in the tale as he ran onto the grass on the exit from the corner and lost control of his Camel Yamaha, which threw him into the air.

As Edwards slid to the ground within touching distance of the finish line, Hayden returned to the track to snatch his first win of the season, leaving Edwards to pick his bike up and limp across the line in 13th place.

"What can I say?" sighed Colin. "Obviously I'm really disappointed because I know I should have won that race. The bike felt great from the start and I was really enjoying riding it out there. I knew my pace in practice would be hard for the other guys to cope with and that's how it proved to be.

"I got the start I wanted and just kept my head down, doing those times. When Nicky came up inside me two laps from the end he left the pass pretty late and there was nowhere for me to turn the bike into. I had to go straight and luckily it was at a point of the track where I could run back on again. I was determined not to lose hold of him and just gave it everything to give myself a chance on the last lap.

"I got past him and then tried to keep a really defensive line out of the final corner-- I had no idea Nicky had run onto the gravel otherwise I wouldn't have needed to do it. Unfortunately I ran it a bit too tight onto the grass and the rear just spun up as I opened the throttle and it threw me off. I'm gutted but fair play to Nicky, it was a great race," concluded the Texan.

"It was a great race and Colin missed out on the win by just a few metres. It's disappointing because we could already taste the victory champagne and we didn't expect that final twist," admitted team director Davide Brivio. "He made some wonderful moves on the last lap and he didn't deserve to go down like that, but that's racing! As a team we are very proud of both our riders today."

"I feel very sorry for Colin - he rode a great race and he was unlucky to make the mistake at the end because he deserved to win," added Edwards' injured team-mate Valentino Rossi, who fought his way up to eighth in the race.