SBK Netherlands 2021: Schedules, favorites and where to watch the races live

The World Superbike Championship returns after three weeks stop with the fifth round of the championship, a very special one, that of Assen. The Cathedral of Motorcycling will host a decisive round when it comes to knowing where this Superbike World Championship is going to go, which has become so exciting.

Toprak Razgatlioglu is the new world leader after he gave an exhibition at Donington Park in which he ended up forcing the downfall of Jonathan Rea. The champion is beginning to show some sign of helplessness for the first time in recent years, so we will see if he is capable of reacting in Assen.

Razgatlioglu leads the World Cup by two points against Rea

The dynamics of the season have taken a 180º turn in the last two rounds, in which Razgatlioglu has consistently beaten Rea and led the champion to wallow in the dirt in the second long race at Donington Park. Thanks to that, the Turk is now the world leader by two points.

Rea showed signs of nervousness and even helplessness in Donington Park, where he already avoided a crash in the first long race and ended up on the ground in the second. Luckily for him, he arrives at a circuit, Assen, which is one of his favorites. Although it is a double-edged sword, because a defeat would be fatal.

The Kawasaki man went on to win up to eight consecutive races at Assen between 2014 and 2018, and he has twelve consecutive podiums on the Dutch track, although the last time he raced there, in 2019, he had to give up the power of the Ducati Panigale V4 R and Álvaro Bautista first.

Precisely Ducati arrives with the water up to Assen's neck, because they are seeing that for the first time in many years Rea's dominance could end and they are not the ones who are beating it. Scott Redding's renewal is in the airSince 66 points behind Razgatlioglu it seems that the 2021 World Cup has also vanished from Borgo Panigale.

Redding will want to compensate in Assen and above all move away his teammate, Michael Ruben Rinaldi, in the overall, which is already dangerously close, at just 23 points, less than a run. The tension could start to be high in the Ducati garage given the situation of the world championship.

In addition to Razgatlioglu, Yamaha will also have the trump card of Garrett Gerloff, who finished second at Donington Park and then he had fun with the Petronas MotoGP. The aggressive American, who has already had some friction with Rea, could play a key role in the title dispute.

With a rush of energy it will arrive BMW after taking three podiums at Donington Park, making the BMW M 1000 RR taste the champagne of the World Superbike for the first time. The tough weather conditions that are also expected in Assen could help them repeat.

A podium that Honda grazed at Donington Park, but with Leon Haslam's motorcycle. The Tokyo brand is still going through a bad time, and Álvaro Bautista is unable to react to get Honda out of last position of the world of brands. At least at Assen you already know what it's like to win, you did it in the last race here.

Supersport and Supersport 300 return to the World Cup

Going to the way to follow the races, DAZN continues to be the holder of the broadcasting rights of the World Superbike Championship. But there are other alternatives. Starting with Movistar +, which broadcasts all DAZN content. Eurosport will always broadcast the races live on its online platform, although it will sometimes be delayed on analogue channels.

RTVE also owns part of the rights, but they will only broadcast some live sessions. LaLigaSporstsTV, TV3 and the Superbikes videopass are other options to follow the races online. The hours are back to normal in Assen after they were altered at the Donington Park appointment.

SBK Netherlands Schedules 2021

• Friday 23

- FP1 SBK: 10:30 (DAZN)

- FP2 SBK: 15:00 (DAZN)

• Saturday 24

- FP3 SBK: 9:00 (DAZN)

- Superpole SBK: 11:10 (DAZN)

- First race SSP300: 12:45 (DAZN, Esport 3, Teledeporte)

- First SBK race: 14:00 (DAZN, Esport 3, Teledeporte)

- First SSP race: 15:15 (DAZN, Esport 3, Teledeporte)

• Sunday 25th

- WUP SBK: 9:00 (DAZN)

- Superpole Race SBK: 11:00 (DAZN, Esport 3, Eurosport, Teledeporte)

- Second SSP race: 12:30 (DAZN, Esport 3, Eurosport, Teledeporte)

- Second SBK race: 14:00 (DAZN, Esport 3, Eurosport, Teledeporte)

- Second race SSP300: 15:15 (DAZN, Esport 3, Eurosport, Teledeporte)