When holding the lead with two laps remaining, Alex Márquez is taken out of the Dutch Grand Prix. Xavi Vierge has similar bad luck, crashing out when fighting for a podium finish.

• In the midst of the heat wave engulfing Europe, the 71st running of the Dutch Grand Prix got underway in sunny conditions with track temperatures of 26 degrees.
• Both Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS were involved in the race of the year, a thrilling ten-rider fight for victory during which both Alex Márquez and Xavi Vierge looked capable of finishing on the podium.
• Ultimately the Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS leaves the Netherlands empty handed after both Alex Márquez and Xavi Vierge crashed in incidents that weren’t their fault.

Alex Márquez, DNF

• Marquez suffered a fast crash at Turn 8 in morning warm-up but was uninjured. In the opening laps of the race he waited to attack in the opening laps as the feeling came to him.
• After a mistake at turn one on lap 13, Márquez recovered brilliantly from ninth to lead across the line seven laps later.
• The 23-year old was defending the lead from Lorenzo Baldassarri on the penultimate lap, when the Italian crashed at turn three while attempting to overtake Márquez. Both men went down.
• Márquez drops to second in the championship, six points behind leader Thomas Luthi.

“In the end this is racing. It can happen, especially two laps from the end”

“It’s a shame what happened. We were leading again after what was a difficult weekend with difficult feelings. But we were still there. I’m happy for that, because the race was a big group. One lap I passed the line in tenth and I thought, ‘We need to get going.’ But then I recovered a lot of positions. In the end this is racing. It can happen, especially two laps from the end. We’ve made two ‘0’s in incidents that weren’t our fault. We need to keep going like this and I think we have a good opportunity before the holidays to recover the championship lead at the Sachsenring. We will give it our best there.”

Xavi Vierge, DNF

• Starting from third, his first front row start since round two in Argentina, Vierge held his position at the start of the race.
• The Catalan briefly led on lap eleven, taking the lead from Brad Binder with a brilliant move at Turn 8.
• Vierge then crashed on lap 20 after contact with Augusto Fernandez on the exit of Turn 5 when holding fourth place, a disappointing end to his best race performance of 2019.
• The 21-year old drops one place to twelfth in the world championship, 78 points back of the leader.

“I was fighting for the victory until the last five laps”

“It’s a pity! But we have to take the positive things. We did a great job all weekend. I did a great race and was fighting for the victory until the last five laps when I crashed. Baldassarri overtook me and I was preparing a move on him when Fernandez pushed me out. I lost the front wheel and I couldn’t save the crash. It was a shame. But anyway I’m really, really happy. We made a big step. I enjoyed the race a lot until the incident but it’s like that. We need to take the positives and stay in the same rhythm for the next races. I want to say thanks to my team because they believe in me and they did an amazing job.”

Joan Olivé, Team Manager

“We are working well. This is just part of the game”

“It has been a difficult end to the weekend because both riders could not finish the race and take points for the championship. On the other hand both riders showed great potential during the weekend, especially during the race. We are very happy Alex was leading again and waiting for the right moment to push again. Unfortunately Baldassarri made a desperate move and made Alex crash. I hope this is an important moment everyone can learn from, especially for them. Regarding Xavi I’m very happy for him. He started from the first row. In the race he was very consistent in the top group so he was really good. But he had a crash that was not 100% his fault so let’s keep focussed for the next races. We are working well. This is just part of the game.”