Marc Marquez offered a defence of Jorge Lorenzo after his Repsol Honda team-mate's crash left the door open for his triumph in Barcelona.

Five-time champion Marquez, who is top of the standings again in 2019, was handed a surprisingly straightforward victory at the Catalunya Grand Prix as his title rivals crashed out.

Lorenzo clipped Andrea Dovizioso on the second lap and took Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi out of the race with him.

Marquez acknowledged that the incident would have a big impact on the championship, as the Spaniard triumphed to move 37 points clear of Dovizioso.

Lorenzo said: "In this type of race, a little mistake can create a big crash with a lot of riders affected.

"I feel really sorry for Maverick, Andrea and Valentino as they are fighting for the championship.

"My crash doesn't mean so much - I could crash because I'm not fighting for the championship. But for them, it's a big disaster and I feel sorry for them."

However, Marquez suggested the collision was "just unlucky", claiming Lorenzo's mistake was not entirely clear-cut.

"I didn't know [about the crash] until I finished the race," Marquez told BT Sport. "I just saw on the board 'Dovi out', because I said to my team I just wanted to know if something happened with Dovi.

"I didn't care about the others, I just wanted to work for the championship. I overtook Dovi and then on the next lap, I saw the marks there.

"Now I have seen the images. It's difficult to say - of course, if you see the images, you can say 'what is Jorge doing?' But it is easy to have these kind of mistakes.

"He was not out of the line, he was in the line, it was just unlucky for the others that they were wide. This can happen in the race."

There had appeared to be tension between the two Honda riders earlier in the week, with an on-track altercation in FP3.

Marquez took issue with Lorenzo's track position as he attempted to record a fast lap, calling for his team-mate to be penalised.