Marquez "outfoxed us again" at Brno, says Crutchlow

Marquez was victorious in the Czech Grand Prix, which started under wet-but-rapidly drying conditions, effectively securing the win when he was the first rider to pit at the end of Lap 2.

By the time all the stops panned out, Marquez inherited a 20-second lead, and cruised to the finish in first place.

It's not the first time Marquez mastered changeable conditions, as he also took a dominant win in 2016's Sachsenring race after again perfectly timing his switch to slicks.

Crutchlow says he knew his fellow Honda rider was going into the pits because he "never fought back" when he dropped positions in the opening two laps before pitting.

"I knew he was pitting, I absolutely knew he was pitting because he never fought back and it's not in Marc's nature not to fight back," said Crutchlow.

"I just knew, I had the feeling that he was coming in and I thought eh, maybe [I should pit too].

"I looked down the pit as I ran into the last corner and I could see it, and I was thinking, 'you bastard', because I knew that he outfoxed us again, same as in Sachsenring last year."

Following Pedrosa instead of Marquez

Regarding his own strategy, Crutchlow said he was following Marquez's factory teammate Dani Pedrosa, as he expected him to win the race.

"I followed Dani," Crutchlow added. "I thought maybe actually I should go with him [Marquez], if I had gone with him it was game over.

"We could have just ridden around together and finish first and second, but I honestly thought Dani was going to win the race today so I did what he did."

Having pitted the same time Pedrosa did, Crutchlow appeared to be in contention for the podium but, unlike the factory rider who went on to grab second, the Briton got stuck behind Danilo Petrucci, and had to settle for fifth after being passed by Valentino Rossi.

"The problem is, when we came back out, he [Pedrosa] did a better job at passing the other guys simply because his bike was immediately faster than mine was," said Crutchlow.

"Don't get me wrong, he rode very well as well to be on the podium, but he just had that little bit of extra speed to pass Petrucci and it took me 10 laps [to overtake him].

"I was disappointed that I didn't get a podium because I felt that was the aim. I think we did well enough considering the situation in the race, but it took me way too long to get past [Petrucci]."