Valent♌ino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo were fortunate to remain upright after a high-speed clash in the early stages of Sunday's thrilling Dutch MotoGP at Assen. 

Having bolteꦡd from tenth on the grid to lead the opening lap, Lorenzo had then wrestled the advantage back from 💧Marc Marquez and would keep his Ducati up-front for the next eleven laps.

But it wasn't without incident.

While Lorenzo 🐟was unable to break away, Rossi replaced Marquez as his nearest rival.

The pair were just a few bikelenths apart wheܫn, on lap 5, Lorenzo꧟ lost the front of his Ducati after cutting across the kerb a little too heavily through the fearsome, 200km/h, Meeuwenmeer right-hander.

Lorenzo saved the slide, but the sudden l🎀oss of speed meant he was promptly rammed by Rossi.

Both riders stayed onbo🙈ard their machines, which were 🥂left baring scars from the incident.

"It was a very scary moment there, but I didn't know what happened behind me," Lorenz༒o said. "I didn't know if someone crashed into the back, I didn't know which rider it was, whether it was Márquez or another rider, but finally it was Valentino. We've been very lucky.

"Still with Michelin, we have a little b♔it more grip on the edge of the rear tyre than the front. At Le Mans I lost the front, and happened 𓄧again here. 

"I just went a little bit more inside and I touched the white line and the fꦅront closed.

"So to avoid the crash, I was almost crashing, but I had to reduce the speed and Valen🦩t🍬ino didn't expect this lack of speed in that corner, and he hit me in the back of the bike. 

"Very scary moment, and if it had ha𓂃ve been a crash with all the group behind, it could have been very very dangerous. 

"But i🌟t was the front closing, so I was lucky not to crash."&꧑nbsp;

Rossi said: "We were very lucky, me and Lorenzo, because Lore꧟nzo cut too much Turn 12, lost the front🌠 and I arrived behind with a lot more speed and I hit him. 

"But we ༒were ༒very lucky because I hit him perfectly [squarely in the back] so we don't crash."

Lorenzo later dropped to seventh place, ending his hopes of three wins in a row, with defending event winner Rossi finishing fifth after a braking-🌌incident with the other factory Ducati of A꧅ndrea Dovizioso.