During free practice, Bautista defended himself honestly in the dry by setting the ninth time, which was enough to qualify him directly into Q2. He managed to get the seventh fastest time, which allowed him to start from the third row alongside Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso.
Sixth at the end of the first lap, he led the chasing group just behind Scott Redding, then fifth. With the British, Maverick Vinales, Andrea Iannone and Cal Crutchlow, they were at the end of the fourth lap just over two seconds behind the four leaders Johann zarco, Marc Marquez, Valentino Rossi and Danilo Petrucci.
He was then overtaken by Vinales and Dovizioso. His race unfortunately ended on the eighteenth lap when he was in a good sixth position. He could have aimed for one of his best places of the year, after fourth in Argentina and fifth in Italy.
According to Alvaro Bautista, “ These things happen in racing, but this year we are performing well and we don't deserve this crisis. The plan was to wait and see what would happen during the race, as we had barely driven in the dry.
“In the first laps I tried to be careful and not take any risks. Then we had a good fight with several drivers. The group got a little longer, I was going at my own pace and suddenly on the fifth lap I lost the front. There's no reason I can say why I fell.
“I feel bad, because we are doing things well, but we are missing that little something to help us finish the races and be up there, because we have the potential. We were good, I was comfortable, and I could have finished at least in the top six.
“Physically I'm OK, my morale is a little hurt, but the next race is coming soon and I'm sure that in Germany we will recover and have a good feeling. »
Dutch Grand Prix results:
1- Valentino Rossi – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – Yamaha YZR M1 – 26 laps
2- Danilo Petrucci – OCTO Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 0.063
3- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 5.201
4- Cal Crutchlow – LCR Honda – Honda RC213V – + 5.243
5- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 5.327
6- Jack Miller – Marc VDS 0.0 EG – Honda RC213V – 23,390 +
7- Karel Abraham – Pull & Bear Aspar Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP15 – 36,982 +
8- Loris Baz – Royal Avintia Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP15 – 37,058 +
9- Andrea Iannone – Ecstar Team Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-RR – 37,166 +
10- Aleix Espargaro – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – Aprilia RS-GP – + 1'01.929
11- Pol Espargaro – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – KTM RC16 – + 1’09.384
12- Tito Rabat – EG 0.0 Marc VDS – Honda RC213V – + 1’10.121
- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 1’10.344
14- Johann Zarco – Monster Yamaha to Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1’35.655
15- Jorge Lorenzo – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP at 1 lap
16- Hector Barbera – Royal Avintia Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP at 1 lap
17- Alex Rins – Team Suzuki Ecstar – Suzuki GSX-RR 1 lap
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
1 Andrea DOVIZIOSO-Ducati 115 points
2 Maverick VIÑALES-Yamaha 111
3 Valentino ROSSI-Yamaha 108
4 Marc MARQUEZ-Honda 104
5 Dani PEDROSA-Honda 87
6 Johann ZARCO-Yamaha 77
7 Danilo PETRUCCI-Ducati 62
8 Jorge LORENZO-Ducati 60
9 Cal CRUTCHLOW-Honda 58
10 Jonas FOLGER-Yamaha 51
11 Jack MILLER-Honda 40
12 Alvaro BAUTISTA-Ducati 34
13 Scott REDDING-Ducati 33
14 Loris BAZ-Ducati 31
15 Andrea IANNONE-Suzuki 28
16 Aleix ESPARGARO-Aprilia 23
17 Tito RABAT-Honda 23
18 Hector BARBERA-Ducati 21
19 Karel ABRAHAM-Ducati 20
20 Pol ESPARGARO-KTM 11
