Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez opted for a surprise soft rear tyre in Sunday’s Dutch MotoGP at Assen, 🅠wh♒ich proved a shrewd choice as he clinched victory in a pulsating race.

Tꦛhe reigning champion normally selects a harder compound rear but in contrast to many of his main rivals on Sunday, the reigning champion went in the ꦅopposite direction.

Marquez explain𝔉ed: “It was strange because normally in the last races we go to the ha𒆙rd and everybody with the soft, and today it is opposite: many people with the hard and we were with the soft.

“This time if you check a little bit the tyre allocation the softer in some points were harder than the hard – yes, it is like this and it is something that is 💮sometimes difficult to understand, but the softer in som🎀e areas was harder than the hard tyre and for that reason I chose the soft because I feel better in some corners.

“Then eveꦐn with the hard I was able to be fast but I 🎐feel more drop.”

Runner-up Alex Rins and Maveꦑrick Vinales, who completed the top three, both chose the harder Michelin rear.

Suzuki rider Rins said: “In my case, with the hard one I was feeling much b🌠etter. Yesterday on the qualifying I was trying to be strong on the first laps, to see if it was getting hot fast.

“It’s ⛄strange that many riders were riding with the soft and many riders were with the hard one, but I was feeling a little bit easier to control the grip, control the spin with the hard and we chose the hard one.”

For Vinales, his decision to run the hard rear was a♌🍌ll about ‘feeling’.

“It’s about feeling because the tyres are great🗹 right now with Michelin, especially on the rear because the rear has really good grip and✤ is consistent,” he said.

“It’s all about feeling and if you prefer to have a little bit more turning or more stability, so both tyres ꦏworked really well 🧜and I tried also the hard in FP2 and it was great, so it’s just about feeling and nothing more.”