There’s no venue on the MotoGP calendar more iconic than Assen, with an almost uninterrupted history stretching back to 1949 and a reputation for producing some of the closest and most entertaining racing of the year.
Sunday’s Dutch TT was no exception either, with a series of scraps all through the field really highlighting who’s on form and who’s struggling right now, even if the fast and flowing nature of the Assen track did play particularly into the hands of some riders and manufacturers.
Up front, though, it was yet another dominant victory for Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo to put one hand on the MotoGP trophy as the series goes into the summer break.
We have, as usual, ranked the whole grid based on their Sunday performances.
Our MotoGP ranking system is simple: the riders who we believe performed the best are at the top, and the ones who underplayed are at the bottom, and scored appropriately.
It isn’t just about the end result though, with pre-race expectation and form heavily influencing their eventual score – not just the points they take home with them.
Fabio Quartararo – 10
Started 2nd, finished 1st
Textbook stuff from the championship leader. He didn’t have the easiest of starts, trying to find his way past the pesky Ducati of Pecco Bagnaia, but once he did, he exploited his chance and rode off into the sunset for easily the most dominant victory of the 2021 season so far.
He made it look easy at the end by simply managing his three-second buffer back to Vinales until the chequered flag. A few more rides like that one and it’s exceptionally hard to look past Quartararo for title hopes this year.
Maverick Vinales – 9
Started 1st, finished 2nd
Given everything that’s gone on in the past week, this was really a rather good ride from Maverick Vinales!
He went into the weekend at Assen admitting that his last-place finish at the Sachsenring had hurt him deeply, spent more time negotiating a new Aprilia contract than setting up his M1, and still managed to pull off a strong result come Sunday’s race (from pole too).
He did it in style, forced to pick off some very aggressive rivals in the early stages of the race before he could find clear track. It was by then too late to hunt down team-mate Quartararo, but it was nonetheless a strong ride.
Johann Zarco – 9
Started 5th, finished 4th
Really, Johann Zarco has no business sticking a satellite Ducati into fourth at Assen, a track that doesn’t play to the bike’s strengths at all.
But he put on an exceptional display of defensive riding, he made some very aggressive (but clean) overtakes when he needed to in the early stages, and all in all it was a superb ride that limited the points taken off him by his championship rivals as he goes into the summer break a comfortable second.
Pecco Bagnaia – 8.5
Started 3rd, finished 6th
Bagnaia wasn’t expecting too much from Sunday’s race despite his love of the TT Circuit Assen. And his Ducati was never going to work too well there either.
But he did a fantastic job in the opening laps of making himself five metres wide, hindering the progress of many of his rivals and buying himself some championship breathing room by slowing their races right down.
Settling for sixth in the end, it’s as good a result as he could realistically have hoped for – but he gets extra marks for his racecraft and how he didn’t just perform well himself but damaged those he’s up against.
Marc Marquez – 8
Started 20th, finished 7th
It was a pretty anonymous result on Sunday for the previous week’s winner, but Marc Marquez leaves Assen delighted with what he achieved, and rightly so.
Starting from his worst ever qualifying position as he still struggles with time attack mode, he showed just how much he’s improving by chipping away at his rivals before getting stuck into a fierce fight with the Espargaro brothers – but this time not making the mistakes that have plagued his return from injury.
Not an amazing result, but a solid effort to take into the summer break.
Miguel Oliveira – 8
Started 6th, finished 5th
Oliveira was a somewhat anonymous figure during Sunday’s race, finishing well behind the battle for the podium but easily clear of the scrap in front of him.
But he hadn’t gone into the race with huge expectations at a track that doesn’t really favour KTM, sp it was an exercise in damage control and he did everything he needed to do to maintain his title position.
Garrett Gerloff – 7.5
Started 22nd, finished 17th
As rookie debuts go, not a bad outing at all for the American replacement for Franco Morbidelli.
Thrown into the deep end by only being informed last-minute that he was replacing the Petronas SRT Yamaha rider, he didn’t do anything stupid all weekend, and while his gap down from the race winner (just under a minute) was large, it’s not bad when you take into account his complete and utter lack of experience.
Iker Lecuona – 7
Started 13th, finished DNF
It might have ended with a crash, but Lecuona’s race started with a bang, as the young Spaniard found himself in an impressive battle for top 10 positions with the Repsol Honda duo.
Though eventually forced into a mistake as he tried to defend from Pol Espargaro, it’s an important learning experience for him – but showed glimpses of his potential at a key time for his future.
Lorenzo Savadori – 7
Started 15th, finished 16th
Another strong weekend for Aprilia’s second rider. Savadori lost all of his time in the early stages of the race stuck behind Ducatis with slower race pace than he had.
Forced to back off to drop the front tyre pressure, it was then a case of riding sensibly to the flag and he was unfortunate not to collect at least one point along the way.
Alex Rins – 7
Started 7th, finished 11th
On paper a bad day for Rins, but a closer look at the numbers suggests that actually if it hadn’t been for one incident with Zarco, he’d have had a very impressive day indeed.
Left both last and fuming after the Ducati rider bumped him into the gravel with an aggressive but fair overtake, his anger mainly came from the fact that he had podium pace for the remaining 25 laps even as he carved his way past a dozen riders.
Aleix Espargaro – 6.5
Started 9th, finished 8th
Given the nature of the TT Circuit Assen and the mid-corner stability in particular of the RS-GP, Aleix Espargaro should have been capable of better than eighth.
Hampering himself a little with a poor qualifying performance that left him stranded back on the third row, he got stuck behind slower riders and, with a power deficit on the Aprilia, there wasn’t much he could do about it.
Joan Mir – 6
Started 10th, finished 3rd
On paper a good result for the reigning world champion, but the reality is that this was a golden opportunity for him to claw back some valuable championship points from Quartararo and he failed to do so.
Once again hamstrung by his qualifying performances and slow to start the race, the all too familiar story of too little too late means that he wasn’t able to do a thing as the Yamahas rode away from him.
Last year Mir got lucky as his grid placings didn’t unduly hamper him on Sundays, but that strategy isn’t working this year and Suzuki needs to find something fast if it’s to defend the crown.
Enea Bastianini – 5.5
Started 19th, finished 15th
Another pretty standard ride from the reigning Moto2 world champion. Bastianini didn’t set the world alight but just quietly got on with his job.
A bit of a frustrating hindrance to some of his rivals early on (no bad thing if you don’t have the speed to beat them), taking home points isn’t a bad day at the office for him.
Alex Marquez – 5
Started 16th, finished 14th
One of many MotoGP riders making their first trip to Assen in the top class despite their experience, Alex Marquez struggled as much as the others in that position all weekend.
There’s some solace in the fact that this week he at least managed to stay on the bike long enough to pick up some points at the finish line.
Taka Nakagami – 5
Started 4th, finished 9th
If we were just scoring based on the opening half of the race then Nakagami would be a hell of a lot higher after a very strong start that left him looking like a podium contender.
However, his old problem soon crept back – when he is put under severe pressure, he seems to not handle it particularly well.
He made mistakes and dropped back after a series of aggressive but fair moves from the likes of Mir and Zarco. It wasn’t a result that reflected his speed and it followed something of a pattern for him.
Brad Binder – 4
Started 21st, finished 12th
Binder might be something of a Sunday specialist, but that’s really not good enough if you’re going to continually sabotage your race before it even begins on a Saturday, and 21st on the grid is his worst self-inflicted wound of the year.
Having then wasted too much time making his way through the pack in the early stages, it was a disappointing ride from the KTM man after a strong start to the year.
Jorge Martin – 4
Started 14th, finished DNF
It’s hard to score Martin’s race too well considering he failed to finish due to issues with his physical condition after the crash at Portimao that’s still causing problems.
The rookie was looking comfortable sitting inside the top 10 until it became a bit too much for him, so the five-week summer break is a well-needed chance to rest and recharge.
Pol Espargaro – 4
Started 11th, finished 10th
Another disappointing result for Pol Espargaro, as he once again failed to finish as even the second-placed Honda.
Not comfortable all weekend on the bike with a full tank of fuel, he got bogged down when the lights went out and admitted afterwards to riding too defensively.
Getting beaten by Nakagami wasn’t in his game plan for the year and it’ll be chalked down as another disappointing day.
Luca Marini – 3
Started 17th, finished 18th
For the first time this year, we saw VR46 rider Luca Marini really struggling on Sunday, after completely failing to understand the Michelin tyres. He went backwards in the race as a result.
Finishing last and well over a minute off the front isn’t a good look for him, so the important thing now is to ensure that he’s learned from his mistakes.
Danilo Petrucci – 3
Started 18th, finished 13th
Like fellow KTM rider Binder, Petrucci struggled in the early part of the race and wasn’t able to make up positions on a fresh tyre, before being forced to watch his stablemate ride away from him in the closing stages.
Admitting afterwards that he was outshone by team-mate Lecuona, even Petrucci conceded that it wasn’t good enough for a rider trying to keep their job.
Valentino Rossi – 2
Started 12th, finished DNF
Disappointment again. Regardless of Rossi’s lack of pace, a rider of his experience shouldn’t be crashing on what seems like more weekends than he stays on the bike.
He admitted after the race that the results are speaking for themselves when it comes to his future and really it’s no surprise at all.
Jack Miller – 2
Started 8th, finished DNF
A harsh score for Miller simply because we expect better of the factory Ducati rider than a stupid error like the one that did severe damage to any title aspirations on Sunday.
Admitting that he braked too hard and just tipped off the bike thanks to not carrying enough corner speed, it’s more L-plate on a roundabout than a MotoGP title contender level of error.
