Three out of three for Jorge Lorenzo just wasn't to be, the Spaniard having to settle for seventh place at Assen, a less than dazzling result after having tasted the champagne at both Mugello and Montmelò.
The Spaniard nevertheless starred in a stellar first part of the race, as he literally plowed his way through the field from tenth to reach Marquez: "I got off to a bad start at Montmelò, - recalls Lorenzo - while this time I had the perfect first three metres, great accelerations. The anti-wheelie was perfect as were the electronics. I was also lucky to have a lot of space on the outside while everyone moved to the inside. I had enough thrust after turn 1 to get past Cal (Crutchlow) just before entering turn 2".
The Spaniard adopted a very specific technique to cut through the field in the early stages: "seeing as the first two corners are right-handers, theoretically the best entry point is towards the inside, so towards the right. I stayed on the outside to have a lot of speed through the turns and that's how I passed them".
A perfect start, though one which gave way to a tough race, with a clear drop in performance in the second half: "the race became complicated for various reasons, I couldn't conserve the tyres as I had in other races, and my pace dropped off".
Without a doubt, Assen made for an exciting race. Lorenzo only experienced it up to a certain point: "We hadn't had a race with so many passes and so many races so close together for a long time. At least until Marc made a break for it. I led for several laps, so I didn't see a lot. Many riders passed me quite quickly, I couldn't hold on or be part of the battle. I was aggressive and determined when Marquez and Dovi passed me because I was still able to respond. After that, it became impossible".
His relationship with the Ducati is improving and the Desmosedici appears to better suit Lorenzo's needs but there are still areas in need of improvement: "I'm getting on much better with the bike, I can keep good pace for many laps, with respect to earlier this year or last season. But this track is strange. With the strong wind and many changes of direction, trying to set a better pace than that which seems possible was physically tough on me. Especially through T4, I really had to push to stick with them and the tyre began to drop a lot on the right side".
Jorge Lorenzo closes by talking about the Desmosedici, which seems increasingly better in his hands: "The bike can improve further. In terms of braking, it doesn't perfectly suit my style, it still takes a little too much energy, I think we can do more in the future".