Yamaha rider Maverick Viñales started from fourth on the grid for Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix, but got pushed back to fifth as the field bunched up in the first corner.
The young Spaniard then put his head down, but had to let Johann Zarco pass him as he used the opening laps to get heat into his tyres. At the end of lap 5 the familiar number 25 found himself in ninth after a flurry of activity.
Jorge Lorenzo had squeezed past and a little later a close battle between Viñales and Andrea Iannone caused both riders to go wide, allowing Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso through, however, Vinales wasn‘t out of contention yet.
The Yamaha rider was on a second wind and fought his way past Iannone, as Cal Crutchlow crashed out of fourth place.
After overtaking Rossi and Dovizioso in one swoop, with 14 laps to go, Viñales tried to shake off both rivals, but was unable to clear off completely.
Dovizioso put up a fight and, with ten laps to go, a small moment for the home hero meant he had to hand over fifth place.
The Spaniard kept his cool and opted to secure ten solid points for the championship, crossing the line in sixth position, 24.556s from first, after a challenging race weekend.
“It was a strange day,” he said. “In the warm up I was feeling really good, so precise in all the breaking points, but in the afternoon I didn't have the same feeling."
"I felt like I was going to crash in nearly every corner, so it was a really strange and difficult day for us. It has been difficult for both sides of the box. "
"We have to think about what happened and try to improve for the next races, because we lost some important points for the championship.”
