A battered and bruised Marc ౠMarquez held off a late charge by Cal Crutchlow to bag a hard-earned runner-up finish🤡 in the Dutch MotoGP at Assen.

Marquez injured his right little finger in a heavy fall during FP3, but the championship rookie♒ conceded that race winner Valentino Rossi was 'simply faster than us today'.

The Repsol Honda star came under pressure from Crutchlow during the final laps, but took full advantage whe💝n the Tech 3 Yamaha rider almost ran on at the end of the start/finish straight at the beginning of the final lap to cement the runner-up spot.

"Overall the pace was faster than I had expected. At the start and th🌱roughout the race both Dani and Valentino were very str✤ong," he said.

"In fact, Va🐲lentino♏ was simply faster than us today. I could only pass Dani towards the end, because at first I had a lot of trouble.

"Once I passed Dani, I tried to catch Valentino, but my arm began to affect me and I couldn't brake 🐼in my normal way due to my inj🌼ured finger.

"In the end we took 2🍸0 points after a good battle with Cal and think I defend🦋ed pretty well against him."

Marquez, who was celebrating his sixth rostrum finish in seven races this season, is third overall in the championship sꦕtandings, 23 points behind team-mate Dani Pedrosa.

"In general, we can say we've done a good job all weekend.🥀 I have a lot of respect for Jorge today, he showed real strength and he did a great job," Marquez said.

"I would also like to congratulate Valentino, as it's always good for motorcycle𒆙 racing when he's up at the front!"