‘Ready to fight’ Nakagami misses out on maiden MotoGP podium

Takaaki Nakagami looked set for a maiden MotoGP podium at the Dutch GP before losing eight places in one lap. 

The LCR Honda Idemitsu rider got the perfect start as he moved up from fifth to third by turn one. 

Third was a position Nakagami remained in for several laps - mid-race distance in fact, before his race and podium charge quickly unravelled. 

Nakagami attempted a move on Francesco Bagnaia who was second - moments before the Italian’s long-lap penalty, but as Fabio Quartararo and others found out during the race, passing a Ducati is a near impossible task. 

Nakagami made the move in the final sector but was immediately repassed on the main straight, before Maverick Vinales got ahead of the 29 year-old. 

That started somewhat of a position losing trend as Joan Mir and Johann Zarco both made their way through in consecutive corners. 

Nakagami was still in contention at that point, however, a ‘big mistake’ heading into turn one saw Nakagami relegated to ninth behind Bagnaia, Jack Miller, Aleix Espargaro and Marc Marquez. 

While Nakagami was happy with his pace and overall feeling, it’s another huge podium opportunity missed like Aragon and Valencia 2020. 

The Japanese rider said: "This was quite a positive race. At the beginning of the race I was ready to go, ready to fight and I was in P3. 

"I tried to overtake Bagnaia but it was really difficult and overall I’m happy about the race performance. 

"Of course, in the middle of the race I had one big mistake and dropped positions and ending up in P9 was not the best result. 

"But I’m happy about the feeling of the bike and it was nice to be in P2 and P3 during the race. 

"I want to say thanks to the team and I’m really looking forward to the two races in Austria after the summer break."