Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) was the leader of the Moto2 Grand Prix of the Netherlands, but in the end he missed the podium by the blink of an eye.

Raul Fernandez wins the Dutch TT in front of Gardner

After the start, Lorenzo Dalla Porta had a violent crash, who had previously slipped out of the Strubben curve and could not catch it. A little later, Tony Arbolino also flew spectacularly into the gravel, where his Kalex rolled over several times. The next one with a crash was Joe Roberts, for whom the race was already over with 22 laps to go. Augusto Fernandez led the group ahead of Lowes and Gardner when there were 17 laps left. A second behind Raul Fernandez, Arcon Canet, “Di Gia”, Ogura, Bezzecchi and Schrötter. The German was initially sixth but had already lost three positions and was now behind Vierge, Navarro and Vietti. A little later, Sam Lowes was the leader for the first time and shortly afterwards Gardner also grabbed the leading Fernandez, who now had his namesake Raul almost 0.7 seconds behind him. The other pursuers were already around 1.5 seconds behind after the first quarter of the race.

Raul Fernandez (Red Bull Ajo Kalex) is a rookie and Assen winner, like team-mate Gardner, who is already a three-time season winner and his toughest opponent in the battle for the title before the summer break.

The second half of the race
The next one with a crash was Fabio Di Giannantonio, for whom the Dutch GP had run with it. Augusto Fernandez had regained the lead before his namesake Raul came and ousted him from the top. Directly behind Lowes and half a second behind World Championship leader Gardner. The Australian pulled up again while his team-mate at the front pulled out a slight lead. With five laps to go, Raul had a one-second lead over his three pursuers and Aron Canet was next with a crash. Over the last two laps, Gardner grabbed Lowes and then Fernandez, one after the other. The world championship leader was no longer naked and took second place behind team-mate Raul in front of Augusto Fernandez and Sam Lowes. Schrötter made it into the top ten in his neighboring country with P9 and Tom Lüthi finally got world championship points in 14th place. Local hero Bo Bendsneyder pushed US boy Cameron Beaubier out of the points in the end with P15.

The Moto2 Grand Prix of the Netherlands in numbers

World Championship stand of Moto2 after 9 laps

Although Remy Gardner, the son of the two-time 500 cm³ winner from Australia, missed the victory in Assen, he is clearly ahead of the winner in the intermediate classification after he fell after a mistake at the German GP. With fifth place, Bezzecchi lost important points to the leader, but at the Sachsenring he had at least made up a lot of ground on Fernandez, who is still second.

P, Rider, Bike, Nat, Points
1, Remy GARDNER, Kalex, AUS, 184
2, Raul FERNANDEZ, Kalex, SPA, 153
3, Marco BEZZECCHI, Kalex, ITA, 128
4, Sam LOWES, Kalex, GBR, 99
5, Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO, Kalex, ITA, 73
6, Marcel SCHROTTER, Kalex, GER, 66
7, Aron CANET, Boscoscuro, SPA, 55
8, Augusto FERNANDEZ, Kalex, SPA, 50
9, Xavi VIERGE, Kalex, SPA, 50
10, Joe ROBERTS, Kalex, USA, 50
11, Ai OGURA, Kalex, JPN, 49
12, Jorge NAVARRO, Boscoscuro, SPA, 42
13, Bo BENDSNEYDER, Kalex, NED, 39
14, Tony ARBOLINO, Kalex, ITA, 30
15, Cameron BEAUBIER, Kalex, USA, 26
16, Celestino VIETTI, Kalex, ITA, 22
17, Albert ARENAS, Boscoscuro, SPA, 22
18, Stefano MANZI, Kalex, ITA, 20
19, Somkiat CHANTRA, Kalex, THA, 16
20, Marcos RAMIREZ, Kalex, SPA, 16
21, Jake DIXON, Kalex, GBR, 11
22, Hector GARZO, Kalex, SPA, 11
23, Nicolò BULEGA, Kalex, ITA, 10
24, Hafizh SYAHRIN, NTS, MAL, 8
25, Simone CORSI, MV Agusta, ITA, 7
26, Lorenzo DALLA PORTA, Kalex, ITA, 6
27, Alonso LOPEZ, Boscoscuro, SPA, 4
28, Fermín ALDEGUER, Boscoscuro, SPA, 4
29, Thomas LUTHI, Kalex, SWI, 4
30, Lorenzo BALDASSARRI, MV Agusta, ITA, 3
31, Barry BALTUS, NTS, BEL, 2

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