Marc Marquez Wins MotoGP Grand Prix of Germany 2017 After Jonas Folger Battle

Honda's Marc Marquez continued his dominance at the Sachsenring on Sunday, holding off Monster Yamaha Tech 3's Jonas Folger to win the MotoGP German Grand Prix and move to the top of the standings.

From the pole position, Marquez enjoyed a strong start before he faced unexpected competition from the German rookie. The Spaniard kept Folger at bay despite relentless pressure, winning his fifth MotoGP race in a row at this venue. Dani Pedrosa completed a good day for Honda, as he came home third.

The result left the top four riders in the standings—Marquez, Maverick Vinales, Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi—covered by just 10 points.

Record's Jose Morgado posted the updated standings:

As noted by the BT Sport MotoGP Twitter feed, Marquez has been dominant at this venue for a long time now:

Marquez got away brilliantly, while his team-mate Pedrosa jumped into second spot. In the early stages, the Honda bikes looked strong.

Further back in the field, Folger was moving through and passed Jorge Lorenzo to take third spot, much to the delight of the crowd. He was then on the back of the two Hondas.

The MotoGP rookie was riding beautifully and glided past Pedrosa before breezing ahead of Marquez to take the lead. As noted by Motorcycle News' Simon Patterson, the fans were loving the work of the local rider:

Here's a look at him in the lead, per the MotoGP Twitter feed:

After Folger got to the front, he and Marquez pulled away from Pedrosa, making it a fight for the lead between the two men.

Marquez's title rivals were also making progress after struggling in qualifying. Vinales, Dovizioso and Rossi were in a battle for fourth spot. With Marquez leading the way, the competition was fierce to pick up as many points as possible and limit his advantage.

As noted by the Crash.net MotoGP Twitter feed, things were tight on track and in the live standings:

Up the road, Pedrosa had a cushion ahead and behind in third place, while Marquez had retaken the lead after an error by Folger. The Honda man didn't build much of a gap, however.

Whenever Marquez sought to pull clear, the German chopped down his lead. With 10 laps to go, the home crowd were beginning to get excited.

On a circuit renowned for taking life out of riders' tyres, the effort Folger had put in started to show in the final stages of the race, as he began to lose control of the rear of his bike. And it meant he quickly became detached from the leader:

That allowed Marquez to enjoy the final stages of the race, and he soaked up the adulation of the crowd on his way to the chequered flag. There was, however, even more rapturous applause for Folger, who performed sensationally to keep pace with the man known as the "King of the Ring."

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Moto Race Feed praised the efforts of Folger and his team as well:

Elsewhere, Vinales came out on top in the battle for fourth, limiting his losses after a poor qualifying performance. Rossi came home fifth, while Dovizioso had to settle for eighth.

The standings make for tremendous reading ahead of the summer break. We're in for a thrilling climax to the 2017 season when the action returns in the Czech Republic next month.