Marc Marquez took his third consecutive 125cc race win at Assen and made the title race a three-way fight between himself and compatriots Nico Terol and Pol Espargaro.
It is Terol who now leads the points having finished second today. The Aspar Aprilia rider stalked Marquez (Ajo Derbi) relentlessly in the first three quarters of the race and looked set to strike in the closing stages. But Marquez was able to make a break when Jerry van de Bunt got in the way while being lapped by the leaders and then side-swiped Terol and crashed. That immediately gave Marquez a two-second cushion and he proceeded to cruise to victory.
Espargaro was swamped off the line and although he swiftly clawed his way back up to third, Marquez and Terol were already out of reach. He pulled clear of Bradley Smith to secure the final podium spot – a big early battle in this group having faded after Esteve Rabat and Efren Vazquez had separate large crashes.
Sandro Cortese was a lonely fifth, with sixth and seventh placed Randy Krummenacher and Danny Webb escaping from a huge gaggle of bikes in another dice that fizzled out as the race progressed.