Valentino Rossi officially has the longest winning career (20 years and 313 days) across all classes after claiming a stunning and dramatic victory at Assen for the Dutch TT, but only just!
The Yamaha rider crossed the finish line almost side-by-side with second-placed Danilo Petrucci in one of the closest MotoGP finishes, with just 0.063 splitting the pair as Marc Marquez crossed the line third, five seconds behind the lead battle.
It wasn't all good news for Yamaha though as Maverick Vinales lost the championship lead to Andrea Dovizioso after crashing out at the final chicane, with tricky conditions catching a number of riders out.
The race began with first-time polesitter Johan Zarco losing out to Honda's Marc Marquez, but the Frenchman remained in second ahead of the battle for third and would late reclaim the lead as a mistake for Marquez dropped him to second.
A quick Rossi cleared Marquez and came up behind Zarco before completing a pass for the lead, but the fight was far from over as the Tech 3 rider immediately fought back. However it would prove costly as light contact between the pair caused Zarco to drop down the order.
His Tech 3 team-mate Jonas Folger meanwhile dropped to the very back on the opening lap after straightlining the Esses. Folger later crashed out at Turn 1 on Lap 10.
As Rossi took the lead, his team-mate stumbled and fell at the final chicane to hand fifth to Dovizioso where he would go on to finish, although he ran as high as third at one stage, finishing behind Britain's Cal Crutchlow.
With ten laps remaining, Petrucci spotted his moment to snatch second from Marquez and started his hunt for Rossi in the lead.
Light rain began to fall on the Assen circuit as Petrucci put pressure on Rossi before taking the lead with five laps left. Just as that happened, further back and Marquez re-claimed third from Dovizioso. The lead battle continued and the order changed again with three laps remaining, with Rossi remaining the lead until the chequered flag, but it was a closely fought battle as Petrucci got held up by some backmarkers.
The battle for the final podium spot was also a close one as Cruthlow got past Dovizioso with one lap remaining and had the race been 27 laps, he might have passed Marquez, but eventually finished just 0.042 behind.
Last year's race winner Jack Miller was sixth ahead of Aspar's Karel Abraham and Avintia's Loris Baz. Aleix and Pol Esparagaro completed the top ten.
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