Dovizioso knew he “screwed up” with Sachsenring pit timing

The Ducati rider was among the last few riders to pit in the wet-dry Sachsenring race, coming in for his second bike from the lead with seven laps to go - and was quickly followed by his main pursuers, Cal Crutchlow, Valentino Rossi and Hector Barbera.

All four riders however were devoured by Marc Marquez, who had changed over to slicks some six laps earlier and was lapping over five seconds a lap faster as the track dried.

Dovizioso went on to finish third behind Marquez and Crutchlow, but was left wondering what might have been had he pitted two laps earlier, as his crew had tried to instruct him.

“They called me in [to change bikes] two laps before I came in, but I didn’t manage to read the pit board the first time,” admitted Dovizioso.

“I saw they were holding out the board but I couldn’t read it, so I didn’t know what was happening. At that time I had nine laps to go and I thought I could make it to the end.

“I think the right time to change tyres was when [Andrea] Iannone came in. Most of the time changing the bike early works.

“When you see the pit board that says ‘box’, it’s already too late and you know you’ve screwed up.

“I’m disappointed for that because we had the chance to fight for the victory, but to finish on the podium at the Sachsenring in these conditions is really important for us.”

Iannone: Fifth “not so bad”

Andrea Iannone meanwhile was the very first rider to change bikes, doing so at the end of lap 13, and the Italian said he was satisfied to end up fifth after his struggles in the opening phase of the race.

“It was a very complicated race, because in the beginning I was not very fast, the feeling with the tyre was not good," he said.

“When I understand this situation, I thought it was better that I come back to the box, change the bike and start to use the intermediate tyres.

“I was the first rider to change bikes in the race, and we recovered a little bit the gap to the first riders. In these conditions, fifth position is not so bad.”