Dovizioso: Marquez made difference, but it was small

"It was clear" that Dutch MotoGP winner Marc Marquez was waiting for the end of the race before trying to break away.

The Honda rider's speed advantage was "very small", but the tactic worked because his rivals were on the limit and "nobody could really put pressure on him".

That was the opinion of Marquez's 2017 title rival Andrea Dovizioso, who also played a role in the huge lead-group dicing for victory.

Marquez led the field on numerous occasions, then dropped behind Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi when he ran wide while battling with Maverick Vinales with six laps to go.

But Marquez repassed both riders in the space of a lap, on the way to a 2.3s victory margin.

Although the Repsol Honda star's best race lap was slower than that of Vinales and Rossi, Marquez delivered it on lap 24 of 26, giving him breathing room in the crucial closing laps.

"[Marquez] managed the race in the right way, but I don't think he has a lot more speed compared to the others," said Dovizioso, who finished in fourth place, 2.422s from victory.

"I think the difference was very, very small, but everybody arrived on the limit at the end of the race, and nobody could really put the pressure on him.

"So I think the difference was very small. But he made the difference, if you look at the other Hondas. So for sure he is working in an amazing way."

Marquez has now won half of the eight races so far this season, holds a 41-point lead over nearest rival Rossi and 61-point lead over fifth in the championship Dovizioso, who is the highest ranked Ducati rider.

"If you look at the championship, if you look at this race, if you want to be objective, it's very difficult [to stop Marquez now]. But it's not impossible," Dovizioso said.

"But in this moment, I'm not focused on that, and I will not race to try to create some strange situation.

"I think we have to improve our negative point, and at the end of the race, still we are not strong enough. That is the point, and we have to be focused on that. When we are better on that, we can think about different things.

"If you're not OK in every area, you can't really fight with Marc when he is leading by a lot of points."

And what was it like to be involved in a race that produced an estimated 175 passes?

"I think every rider loves to overtake other riders, and it's really nice when this happens. But there is always some way to overtake riders. I think most of the time with some riders, it's too aggressive," Dovizioso said.

Can you give an example?

"Everybody did everything within the rules. Everything OK, but really on the limit. I think there are some overtakes when you enter very fast at the end, which can happen. But if you are doing this intentionally, it means you want to do that, and this is bad."

And that happened?

"Many times. This is my opinion. But I don't want to say this is what everybody has to do."

Dovizioso declined to name any specific riders...