Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi won MotoGP’s Dutch TT race from pole position yesterday after a thrilling duel with world champion Marc Marquez in which the pair clashed at the final corner.

Rossi extended his champion-ship lead to 10 points, with closest rival and team-mate Jorge Lorenzo finishing third after qualifying eighth.

The Italian great had led until seven laps from the end, when Marquez squeezed past at the first corner. But Rossi kept on the Honda’s tail and retook the lead with three laps to go.

Marquez then made another move, with the two bikes making contact at the final corner and Rossi skimming across the gravel with a front wheel in the air before cutting the corner and rejoining the track to take the chequered flag.

In the standings, Rossi has 163 points to Lorenzo’s 153.

Lorenzo was never able to challenge the leading pair yesterday and crossed the line over 14 seconds behind.

Andrea Iannone was a comfortable fourth on the Ducati with Pol Espargaro, on the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha, prevailing in a frantic scrap for fifth ahead of Cal Crutchlow, Bradley Smith and Dani Pedrosa, who hurt his finger after a fall in morning warm-up.

Rossi quickly made his intentions clear with a new race lap record on the second lap of 1m33.739s but Marquez was in tow, with Lorenzo trying to keep pace as the front three already put some daylight between themselves and the chasing group.

The pace was hot at the front with Marquez upping the record to 1m33.617s as he refused to let Rossi break clear.

At the halfway point, Rossi still held station from Marquez, with Lorenzo over four seconds behind.

It was clear the outcome would be decided between Rossi and Marquez in the final stages and a slight error by Rossi on the exit of the chicane gave Marquez the momentum on the straight.

The fight was well and truly on but Rossi wasn’t about to settle for a safe runner-up spot yesterday and shadowed the Honda for the next few laps before making a pass at turn 10 and blocking Marquez at the chicane to retake the race lead.

Marquez ran wide on the exit and gifted the Yamaha veteran rider a few vital tenths and although the defending champion hauled himself back into contention to set up a last-gasp attack at the chicane, it was Rossi who held his nerve to seal a sensational victory as he claimed his first win from pole since San Marino in 2009.

There were a number of crashes, with Hector Barbera coming off worst in his encounter with Jack Miller at the chicane on lap one as he was taken from the track on a stretcher, although he was conscious and appeared to be unharmed.

Standings

1. Rossi (Italy) Yamaha - 163
2. Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha - 153
3. Iannone (Italy) Ducati - 107
4. Marquez (Spain) Honda - 89
5. Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati - 87
6. Smith (Britain) Yamaha - 77
7. Crutchlow (Britain) Honda - 57
8. Espargaro (Spain) Yamaha - 56
9. Vinales (Spain) Suzuki - 52
10. Pedrosa (Spain) Honda - 47

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