MotoGP: Viñales romps to top spot in Assen

Maverick Viñales has dominated the opening day of MotoGP action at the Dutch TT< taking the top spot at Assen by 0.4 seconds as he dipped over half a second under the lap record despite cool track conditions.

Working with the new specification chassis tested by him and teammate Valentino Rossi last week in Barcelona, the championship leader looked in control all day – and teammate Rossi wasn’t far behind as he completed his best Friday of the season in sixth.

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Viñales shares the front row with a strong performance from satellite Yamaha rider Jonas Folger despite a crash in free practice one, with Marc Marquez taking the final place on the provisional row in third.

A strong lap from back to back race winner Andrea Dovizioso left him fourth, ahead of best of the Brits Crutchlow and with Rossi sixth.

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