Chain Reaction: Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Dovizioso skittled in Spain

Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso were wiped out in a shocking chain reaction while battling for second place in Sunday's Spanish MotoGP at Jerez.

Lorenzo led the opening seven laps of his home race, before being overtaken by world champion and eventual race winner Marc Marquez.

But despite being the only rider running the soft front tyre, Lorenzo was able to fend off the other Repsol Honda of Pedrosa, plus Ducati team-mate Dovizioso (both running the hard front) for the next ten laps.

Disaster struck when world championship leader Dovizioso then tried an inside overtake on Lorenzo, under braking at the end of the back straight, on lap 18 of 25.

Both Ducati riders ran wide on entry to the hairpin, prompting Pedrosa to try and take advantage by diving into the vacant space on the inside.

It would put him on a collision course with Lorenzo, who had swung across behind Dovizioso's back wheel and was now aiming to square off the turn with a late apex - unaware of Pedrosa's intentions on the inside.

The Spaniards thumped into each other on the exit of the corner, sending Pedrosa into a huge highside, while Lorenzo ricocheted back across the track and straight into the path of Dovizioso.

All three were down and out.

Lorenzo and Pedrosa saw a possible first podium of 2018 disappear in the dust, while Dovizioso dropped to fifth in the world championship standings.

Fortunately, they were all uninjured, Pedrosa in particular still recovering from a wrist fracture in Argentina.

This was how each described the incident in the Jerez paddock on Sunday evening.

Dani Pedrosa:

"I couldn't really make an overtake in the braking because I was losing so much in the straights compared to them so I was never close. So I waiting until the end of the race to see if their tyres may lose some traction and I can stay more close to overtake, or maybe take the chance for some mistake.

"Finally, in that point, they made a mistake. They both went wide and - I was not going faster [than usual] otherwise I couldn't keep my line. I did my normal line but they went slower because they were outside.

"The thing is that Jorge cut down from Dovi after the pass and he wanted to recover his position and maybe he didn't expect me there for some reason.

"The next thing I know, 'boom!' A big hit with Jorge. Unfortunately this ended with a crash for all three.

"What I can say is in that moment there is one point that I'm watching them going wide, but then I started turning and I'm completely on the right side of my bike and I can't see anything [on the outside].

"Even if I want, you don’t see because you are leaning on the other side.

"Instead, Lorenzo was leaning on the inside. He can, more-or-less, see me and also I think when you go out of the racing line you must check when you recover to the line. But finally we touch, and we crash, and there's nothing we can do now.

"We were all doing a very good race and I'm very sad and disappointed, for me but also for them. They also did a good race. Unfortunately the collision meant zero points, especially for Dovi who is higher in the championship.

"And also it's quite strange because especially Dovi, Lorenzo and I are not riders who get this style of riding. But unfortunately we all finished without points and I had a big, big highside."

Jorge Lorenzo:

"The images are clear, but to be honest I don't want to speak too much about that or to say it's his fault or it's your fault, because we are the three cleanest riders in the championship, and it was a very unlucky movement for all three, and we finished on the ground. And we are never in these type of actions.

"Obviously [I didn't see Pedrosa]. Everything happened so fast, I was obviously coming into the narrow place as always, when you run a bit wide you are coming to get the best acceleration and suddenly Dani was there, and then the crash everything happened like domino pieces. Like I said, very unlucky for all three, especially for Ducati and Andrea, because they are fighting for the championship.

"Today, I said to Juanito, who does my pit board, to only tell me the rider behind. But even like that, if they put 'G3', that means there are three riders behind you, but you don't know where the third rider is, whether he is very far or close. So the third rider is the only one who has vision of the situation, because we don't have eyes in the back of our head. I would like that, to be a rider with four eyes, but it's not possible. So it's the one behind who has to be responsible.

"But anyway Dani, myself and Dovi, are never in those kind of actions, so I don't want to say it's your fault, your fault. It has no meaning."

Andrea Dovizioso:

"If we crashed then somebody made a mistake. For sure both Dani and Jorge did a mistake.

"Dani was the third rider so when you are behind you can manage better the situation in front of you. He did a normal line, but he entered faster than normal because he wanted to stop the lines.

"But on the other side Jorge didn’t care about the rider behind him and he cut a little bit too fast the line, as fast as he can.

"I think the biggest mistake was Dani, who was behind us. But it’s a mix of a mistake. In the end it didn’t happen something bad so I don’t want to say they have to be penalised or something like that.

"But I’m going home with zero points and 20 were my points."