Joan Mir "couldn’t avoid" Fermin Aldeguer's Assen highside: “Big hit, a lot of pain”

Joan Mir’s Dutch MotoGP ended painfully after he was caught upi n the aftermath of a huge highside by rookie Fermin Aldeguer.

A dramatic lap 6 for the Gresini team saw Alex Marquez tangling with Pedro Acosta over fourth, resulting in a fractured hand for the MotoGP world championship contender.

Moments later, team-mate Aldeguer was violently launched from eighth place at Turn 11.

Fabio Quartararo, close behind, veered onto the grass to avoid the wreckage.

But Joan Mir, after avoiding the back of Quartararo, slammed into Aldeguer’s stricken Ducati.

Mir immediately ran over to check on Aldeguer, with both riders fortunately escaping any serious injuries.

“First of all, I am happy that Fermin is okay because he took a big fall and when you fall like that in the track – it’s complicated,” said Mir.

“I was really happy with how my race had started, my lap times were close to the guys at the top and I was gaining on the groups in front.

“I couldn’t do anything to avoid the crash unfortunately.

“It was a big hit also for me, I’m in quite a lot of pain so I’ll return home and check my condition in a few days.”

The 2020 world champion now has a two-week break before the German MotoGP at Sachsenring, where Honda hope he’ll be joined by team-mate Luca Marini.

Marini, sidelined since a Superbike crash at Suzuka last month, will take part o a private test at Brno this week to assess his fitness.

HRC test rider Aleix Espargaro stepped in at Assen, finishing 16th, while LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco was the top RC213V rider in 12th.