Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso held off a late attack from Honda’s Marc Marquez on the final lap of the Austrian Grand Prix to claim his third win of the 2017 MotoGP season.
It proved to be a dramatic conclusion to an already thrilling and closely-fought race at the Red Bull Ring, with Dovizioso and Marquez involved in the lead battles throughout.
Marquez held the lead at the start, only for Dovizioso’s team-mate Jorge Lorenzo to storm past him a few corners later to take over first place.
Lorenzo stayed out front for the opening 10 laps, but Marquez and Dovizioso kept him in their sights and eventually got ahead as the top three moved clear of the pack.
A mistake from Lorenzo at Turn 3 allowed Marquez to move alongside on the next straight to take over the position, but Dovizioso slipstreamed past the pair of them.
However, Dovizioso ran deep into Turn 4 and dropped behind Marquez, before they both pulled away from Lorenzo – who was later passed by Dani Pedrosa.
Marquez attempted to pull a gap but a mistake at the third corner opened the door for Dovizioso to take the lead just over the half-way mark.
They swapped places numerous times over the next few laps as they duelled for the victory, with Dovizioso wresting back ahead to lead into the last tour of the Red Bull Ring.
He had a small lead, but Marquez was on the attack and closed it down as the final corners approached, trying a pass around the outside at the penultimate turn.
It did not pay off, but he dived down the inside of Dovizioso into the last corner, only to run wide and allow his rival back through.
Dovizioso crossed the line to score his third win of the year, just ahead of Marquez, with Pedrosa a slightly distant third, having closed the gap to the leading two earlier in the race.
Lorenzo was fourth, ahead of Johann Zarco and the Yamaha factory riders of Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi, who both made mistakes at Turn 1.
Alvaro Bautista, Loris Baz and KTM test rider Mika Kallio rounded out the top 10.
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