Iannone insists he couldn't have avoided Lorenzo crash

Despite being the early race leader, reigning MotoGP champion Lorenzo dropped back to fifth as the race progressed and found himself under pressure from Iannone.

The Italian, who will switch to Suzuki next year, hit the back of Lorenzo's bike under braking at Turn 10, causing the duo to crash and retire.

Although he accepted his penalty of being relegated to the back of the grid at Assen, Iannone insisted he didn't brake later than usual when the incident happened.

"I braked at the same point throughout the entire race, I was certain he had a problem with the bike or the tyres because he was very slow," explained Iannone.

"After the crash I asked Jorge if he had any problems with the bike, and he said no.

"I'm sorry for him. It was a mistake, but I didn't brake later than usual and it was difficult to understand why Jorge braked so early."

"On the other hand I think it was a good race for me, because I tried my best from the beginning and I rode very well, I used the tyres the best way possible and my pace was not so bad."

Not like Argentina crash

Iannone suffered his fourth retirement in seven races this year, and for the second time he hit another rider in the process as he crashed into his teammate Andrea Dovizioso in Argentina.

However, Iannone said the two incidents were different as there was no way of avoiding Lorenzo at Catalunya.

"In Argentina it was a different situation, because I crashed and then I touched Dovizioso," explained Iannone.

"Now it was clear, I was braking at the same point and I tried my best not to touch Jorge. I braked very hard and lost the front.

"This year we had a lot of situations like this, also Dani [Pedrosa hitting Dovizioso] at Austin and I don't know why."

Additional reporting by Jamie Klein