MotoGP Sachsenring: Dovizioso thought he could avoid bike swap

Dovizioso started seventh but quickly moved into the lead group in wet conditions at the Sachsenring, then into top spot when Danilo Petrucci crashed out on lap 11.

The Italian broke away and was 2.5 seconds clear at one stage and while he was reeled back in by the chasing pack, he still led Marc Marquez by nearly 40 seconds after the Honda rider gambled on changing to slick tyres on lap 18 as the track dried.

While Marquez slashed their advantage, the likes of Dovizioso, Valentino Rossi and Cal Crutchlow stayed out until pitting on lap 23.

While he passed Scott Redding at the final corner - with an intermediate front and slick rear compared to Redding's intermediates - to take third, Dovizioso rued his late call to swap bikes.

"I was able to save the tyre and to keep two seconds from the other riders," he said.

"I was so focused to manage that situation, and I didn't change the bike at the right moment.

"I'm disappointed with that because we had the chance to fight for victory.

"You never know how the track changes on each lap.

"And we don't have communication so it's very difficult to understand.

"With eight laps to the end it wasn't in my mind to stop - I thought I would finish the race like this [on wets]."

Dovizioso admitted that leading the race had also shaped his decision to stay out, despite his Ducati crew imploring him to stop on his pit board.

"When you are leading you don't want to stop, because you are managing the situation in a better way than the other riders," he said.

"And you don't want to take that risk, because every time you go with slick tyres on the wet patches it's very easy to make a mistake and to lose the race.

"But most of the time, changing the bike early works, and I didn't do that in the right moment."

CRUTCHLOW - EARLIER STOP A 'WHAT IF'

Crutchlow passed Redding at Turn 1 on the final lap, capitalising on LCR Honda's call to fit his second bike with slicks to take his first podium since the Argentinean GP in 2015.

The Briton started 13th but charged up the order and into the lead group.

There, he said he was waiting on Dovizoso and Rossi to make a call, but might have been better off making his own decision.

"My first thought is it's great to have a podium, but the second thought is disappointed I didn't win," he said.

"You always have that question mark of if I had pitted earlier, but I didn't look at my pitboard.

"I just followed the two guys in front of me, which were Dovi and Vale.

"I knew they had the experience so I just followed them."