Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider Alex Marquez finishes third in hard fought race at Assen with Joan Mir a strong fifth.

The 24 lap race was run in sunny but windy conditions at the iconic 4.5km Cathedral of Speed producing a deserving double top five result for Marquez and Mir.

This third place podium was a classy comeback by Marquez who had crashed twice in practice and qualifying in a difficult build-up to the race.

Marquez settled in fifth place early and then surging to second on lap seven before conceding that position to Lorenzo Baldassarri at the halfway point to finish third, just 2.1s behind the winner.

Mir made a stunning start from ninth position on the third row to dash into fourth place on the opening lap running in tandem with Marquez. He was briefly third and a podium contender on lap two before gradually slipping back and consolidating fifth place over final ten laps.

This was Marquez’s fifth podium in eight races and keeps him third in the championship standings with 110 points with Mir fifth on 75 points.

Alex Marquez: 3rd, +2.179
“This podium is a good result to finish the Assen weekend especially after destroying two bikes, I suffered a lot in practice and qualifying. The race was long and hard and despite the strong wind I had good rhythm but also made a couple of small mistakes that cost me some time. Overall I’m not 100% satisfied because of the couple of mistakes I made over the weekend.”

Joan Mir: 5th, +4.342
“This was a really difficult race and I expected better result but I had some problems which meant I could not go faster. It felt like I was pushing uphill so we need to check everything and improve for the next races. After my great pace over the weekend this is not the ideal result but I’m confident we can fight for the podium at the next race in Germany.”