Defending MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez says his fall on lap five at Mugello’s sixth round on the weekend was unexpected despite struggling earlier in the event with tyre options.

Marquez crashed on turn 10, although he was able to remount and finish the race, crossing the line in 16th while falling just shy of scoring championship points.

“We’ve been struggling the whole weekend to be perfectly comfortable with these particular spec tyres, but I wasn’t suffering that much in the race today,” Marquez explained.

“Instead, the front folded quite unexpectedly, as I wasn’t pushing that hard, and I crashed, though I almost saved it. When I re-joined the race, our pace wasn’t bad at all, despite the bike being a bit damaged, so that’s okay.”

The Repsol Honda rider still maintains a 23-point lead in the standings, which the Spaniard says is a positive considering his championship ranking this time last year.

“We still have a 23-point advantage in the rankings, and this is also very positive – last year at this point we were 37 points back. Today also demonstrates what I’ve been saying for a while – things this year are pretty tight, the season is long, and anything can happen.

“That said, we’ll keep working as usual at Montmelò, where we’ll go back to the usual tyre spec, and we’ll try and come back strong.”

The MotoGP contingent will return to action 17 June at Catalunya in Spain, marking the seventh stop of the series.