Marc Marquez's la🧔te Dutch MotoGP victory surge was in stark contrast to the fortunes of Ducati riders Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo.

Between them,🤪 the red pair led across the start-finish line for 16 of the 26 laps yet were onl🐷y fourth (Dovizioso) and seventh (Lorenzo) at the chequered flag.

Dovizioso lost places during a braking battle with Rossi, but insiღsted he was already struggling to keep pace. Marquez and Rossi were on the soft rear tyre, Dovizioso and Lorenzo the hard.

Dovizioso had begun the Assen weekend saying the partnership between his riding style and the Desmosedici GP18 nꦯeeded to be improved.

"I think after Mugello and Barcelona, we understood there is something on the bike and my r😼iding style that doesn't work in the perfect way," he said. 

"It's small things… but the way you have to manage the tyres is different to last year. Wꦐhat we did last year, doesn't work in a perfect way [this year]."

By the en🐷d of the weekend, the Qatar winner felt progress had been made, but the final laps were an obvious weak point.

"This weekend we put the winglets on and we changed the setup a little bit a🤪nd it looks like it's a bit better in the way that we have to manage the slide on corner entry, especially," Dovizioso said.

"But still we are not 100% happy, because in the last ei🅘ght laps, I didn't have any more tractꦰion. That's the reason why I couldn't stay with Marc, and I couldn't fight for the podium. 

"That is the negative point of the weekend. 

"I did fourth because I put myself in the right position in the right moment, not because in the end we wer♔e fast enoughꦗ to be fourth. 

"I'm happy in the way that I rode the bike in the race, but we have to try to improve a little bit the waജy to manage the rear tyreไ. 

"Because the difference from last year, is that when you lose the grip at the💖 end of the race, we are completely far."

Dovizioso's conclusion▨ is that the tyre has 'changed' since last season and they must now react to that.

"Last year we had🌠 a possibility to manage the consumption and be fast at thಌe end of the race. This year, with this tyre, no.

"But this is the tyre, and this is the characteristic, and we have to try to adapt my styওle. But especially the🥂 bike to the tyre. 

"Because a🐠lso in Qatar, where I won, I couldn't make the difference in the las𝔍t three laps.

"🌌This is the confirmation thღat the tyre is different.

"The difference is very small, but when you are on the limit, small things can be big ༺things."

His assertion t💛hat 'the tyre is different' flies in the face of information from Michelin, which insists only compounds have ch꧋anged since last year.

So why does Dovizioso think the tyres are different, given that the bikes themselves have changed since🦩 last year?

"I'm sure. Because there is a lot of data to understand this and it's quite clear♒."

After costly DNFs at Jerez, Le Mans and Catalunya, Dovizioso h🐼as now returned to the top Ducati in the world championship ranking - albeit in fifth place, 61 points from Marquez and 20 from runner-up Rossi heading into this weekend's Sachsenrin🌳g round.

"Unfortunately, we didn't take a lot of points from Mugello an✃d Barcelona, but I think it was an important to try to understand the future for us.

"So I'm really happyꦑ, I think we are in a better situa♑tion than last year.

"I believe with our bike, the balance is really good. But stilꦉl we don't manage the tyre in a perfect way."

Lorenzo, winner at 🍨Mugello and Catalunya, is four-points behind Dovizioso in the world championship.