Dovizioso: I could have battled Stoner for second

Italy's Andrea Dovizioso was left bitterly disappointed after crashing out of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone while battling for a podium result.

The Monster Tech 3 Yamaha rider fought off the attention of Nicky Hayden, Dani Pedrosa and Ben Spies in the early stages of the race to swoop into third place on lap nine, but bit the dust at Turn 9 as he began to set his sights on Casey Stoner in second.

The mistake cost Dovi his fourth consecutive MotoGP rostrum in the British race, but on the upside he escaped injury and re-joined the race after a brief pit-stop to finish in 19th.

"It is a real shame because I had the possibility to fight for second place today," he said.

"The rhythm of the race in the early laps was incredibly high and we were much faster than in practice.

"I really was at the limit early on but afterwards everybody apart from [Jorge] Lorenzo had to slow down a little bit.

"That allowed me to come back to the leading group and I really had a good pace," he added.

"I had just taken third and was really confident I could finish on the podium when I crashed and I am not happy about it because I didn't expect it.

"It happened when I felt most comfortable with the bike and I definitely was not over the limit."

Dovi may have squandered the opportunity to challenge for the runner-up spot on Sunday, but feels he is building on his understanding of the YZR-M1 and is confident ahead of this weekend's Dutch Grand Prix at Assen.

"I just did a very small mistake losing the rear and I couldn't keep control of the bike," he said.

"That was very disappointing but from a positive point of view this was another race where I have improved my feeling with the YZR-M1 a lot and I'm sure I could have finished second and very close to the victory.

"The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team is doing an incredible job and the Yamaha is a fantastic bike to ride, so I go to Assen optimistic of another podium challenge."