Valentino Rossi fended off a titanic challenge from Danilo Petrucci to secure his 10th Dutch TT victory, while team-mate Maverick Vinales crashed out.
Pole man Johann Zarco led into the first corner off the line, keeping a fast-starting Marc Marquez behind him while Rossi and Petrucci slotted into third and fourth.
Zarco, running the soft front and rear combination, used his early grip advantage to try to break away but was kept at arm’s length by Marquez.
For the first 10 laps the top four ran line astern, with Rossi moving ahead of Marquez and then Zarco at the first corner on the following two tours.
Confident his medium rear could do the distance, Rossi began to break away from the chasing pack and opened his advantage over new second-placed man Petrucci to just over a second as the started the 18th lap.
Rossi’s lead was demolished soon after, however, when light rain appeared, allowing Petrucci to reel in the cautious Yamaha rider and take the lead with just five laps to go.
Andrea Dovizioso was mired in the battle for fifth, which included Vinales, in the early stages. The Spaniard had made his way to the front of that group after a steady start from 11th and was slowly closing in on the leaders.
However, the Yamaha rider pushed too hard through the final chicane on lap 12 and crashed out for the second time this season, Dovizioso lucky not to run over Vinales.
Twitter: DISASTER for the championship leader!
#MV25 has CRASHED out of 5th! #DutchGP https://t.co/Y7RyFmLGMa (@MotoGP)
With clear air ahead, Dovizioso stormed up to the back of the leaders over the next few laps and was battling for the lead when the rain began to fall.
The Italian’s charge faded when he traded third place with Marquez, the pair caught by LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow in the closing stages.
This allowed the top two to dart away, Rossi four tenths clear of Petrucci as they started the final lap. The Pramac rider was hindered by a lapped Alex Rins through Turn 7, allowing Rossi to extend his advantage a little more.
Petrucci managed to get right onto the back of his compatriot as they ran through the final sequence of bends, but was denied a career-first grand prix victory by just 0.063 seconds, Rossi securing his first win of 2017 and the 115th of his career.
Marquez snatched third away from Crutchlow at the final corner, while Dovizioso slotted into fifth spot to take a four-point lead in the standings over Vinales, with Rossi and Marquez seven and 11 points off respectively.
2016 Assen race winner Jack Miller crossed the line sixth ahead of the warring satellite GP15 pair of Karel Abraham and Loris Baz, while Andrea Iannone and Aleix Espargaro completed the top 10.
Pol Espargaro benefited from several riders ahead of him stopping for wet tyres in the closing stages and took KTM’s best result of the year in 11th ahead of Tito Rabat and the struggling Dani Pedrosa.
Early race leader Zarco gambled on wet tyres, but the rain failed to intensify significantly enough – a ride-through penalty for pit lane speeding compounding a tough day for the Frenchman.
He took the chequered flag in 14th ahead of Jorge Lorenzo, Hector Barbera and Rins, all of whom opting for wet tyres as well. Scott Redding and Alvaro Bautista were late fallers, with Bradley Smith, Sam Lowes and Jonas Folger failing to reach the finish also. 
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