Dovizioso: Wrong to have MotoGP aggression doubted after Dutch TT

Having started 11th, Dovizioso leapt up to fourth in the early stages and matched the leading trio on lap times before beginning to drop pace in the second half of the race.

Dovizioso only just fended off Ducati team-mate Danilo Petrucci to claim fourth, and was 14.1 seconds adrift of race winner Maverick Vinales and slipped to 44 points off of standings leader Marc Marquez.

Dovizioso says his willingness to be aggressive was called into question after Assen, but insists his strong early pace exceeded what he was truly capable of.

"Most of the people think I don't try, or I wasn't aggressive enough to try to make something better [at Assen]," Dovizioso said ahead of the German Grand Prix.

"But this is not the reality. I mean, if you don't have the speed to stay in front, it's not about the aggressiveness [that] can affect the result.

"I did 12 laps [where] I pushed 100%, and I did the same lap time as the first three riders, but it wasn't our pace.

"That is the reality. If you see me in fourth, three tenths from the group, and after 12 laps I slow down it's because I was pushing 100%.

"My riding style is to be very smooth, and doesn't show the aggression and looks like I don't push 100%.

"But I was the first Ducati [across the line], what [else do] I have to do? Most of the people who look at the race don't understand [what's happening]."

"Every rider has a different riding style. It doesn't mean you are not pushing 100%. Our pace wasn't 1m34.0s, [which is] what I did for 12 laps. So I was aggressive, but if you look at the race it doesn't look like this."

Ducati has not won at the Sachsenring since 2008, with the Desmosedici's cornering weaknesses typically exposed at the circuit.

But Dovizioso, who has just two MotoGP podiums in Germany, believes Ducati has taken enough of a step forward in this area that challenging for a podium is no longer "impossible".

"The turning for sure affects a lot [how] to be fast and competitive at this track, so it will be difficult," he adds.

"But in the end, last year Ducati didn't make the podium, but we weren't so far. Danilo was fourth and there were three Ducatis seven seconds [from the win].

"So I think it's not impossible to fight for the podium, and this is our goal. Especially for me, I have struggled in all my career at this track, and it will be very important for me to make another step to fight for the podium."