The result left the top four riders in the standings—Marquez, Maverick Vinales, Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi—covered by just 10 points.
Further back in the field, Folger was moving through and passed Jorge Lorenzo to take third spot, much to the delight of the crowd. He was then on the back of the two Hondas.
The MotoGP rookie was riding beautifully and glided past Pedrosa before breezing ahead of Marquez to take the lead. As noted by Motorcycle News‘ Simon Patterson, the fans were loving the work of the local rider:
Marquez’s title rivals were also making progress after struggling in qualifying. Vinales, Dovizioso and Rossi were in a battle for fourth spot. With Marquez leading the way, the competition was fierce to pick up as many points as possible and limit his advantage.
As noted by the Crash.net MotoGP Twitter feed, things were tight on track and in the live standings:
Whenever Marquez sought to pull clear, the German chopped down his lead. With 10 laps to go, the home crowd were beginning to get excited.
On a circuit renowned for taking life out of riders’ tyres, the effort Folger had put in started to show in the final stages of the race, as he began to lose control of the rear of his bike. And it meant he quickly became detached from the leader:
The standings make for tremendous reading ahead of the summer break. We’re in for a thrilling climax to the 2017 season when the action returns in the Czech Republic next month