Yeah I don't buy the whole gas tank story 100% and for sure it was a bit of a snooze fest in terms of racing. Lorenzo did his usual check out with metronome pace. Which he looked to be set to do regardless. I think Marquez and Iannone wanted to put in a fight but faded.
Congrats to Lorenzo for the win, Marquez just bringing home points and Rossi doing well to salvage another 3rd place(yet again).
I agree with you, I do find it a bit hard that Lorenzo can make the Soft's work that well and not experience massive tire wear. However, he's always been able to make the softer tires on any given weekend work for him. I remember him at Yamaha back in 2015 and 2016. And it was almost a given that whatever Rossi ran, Lorenzo ran the next softest tire. Rossi has always been the king of Medium tires and was surprised to see him running Soft/Soft today as well. Yamaha just need to figure it out, Rossi had great pace and for a moment during the race was clicking off very fast laps. So he had the pace but just ran a very conservative race. I think if Rossi would have that kind of pace on Medium's, then you might see him attack more as he knows he's got better braking stability. Also remember all the way back to 2013-2015 even. Rossi at times would run even the Hard front's and Medium rear's. So you can tell he's trying to make something work for the Yamaha. Soft/Soft is not his forte by any means. He's usually a (M)(M) or (H)(M) tires racer.
Gotta feel bad for Dovi. Another pile of points just thrown away. Although, had he stayed upright he wouldn't have been on the podium. He was beginning to fade a few laps before he fell and I believe Rossi would have caught and passed him in another few laps. Dovi just looked totally busted when the camera caught him in the pits. And I agree with the commentators, I'm sure Ducati brass are starting to scratch their heads.
I can't really comment on Vinales. He shoots himself in the foot getting crappy starts and then 1/2 race distance starts showing some pace. He needs to go to the drag strip and spend a couple days working the tree for reaction time. Cause his starts flat suck. Watching the replay of the start it's almost as if he's doing it on purpose, his start was that bad.
On to Assen!! Let's hope Rossi can at least find a win there.