MOTO GP

Bagnaia at the top in Mugello

Italian Pecco Bagnaia won the MotoGP race of the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, where after moving up to first position he managed to beat Frenchman Fabio Quartararo, second in a memorable race that allowed him to extend the lead. on the Spaniard Aleix Espargaró, who completed the podium with Marc Márquez in tenth in his last GP before undergoing his fourth arm operation.

Luca Marini was first at the start ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi, with Fabio Quartararo moving to fourth position, overtaking the Ducatis of Johann Zarco and Pecco Bagnaia, who started very calmly. The one who made a horrible start was Jack Miller, who went to the grass and came down at the back of the pack.

Bezzecchi passed Di Giannantonio and it didn't take long for him to do the same with Marini to lead the race. Quartararo was also released, needing two attempts to pass Di Giannantonio and Marini, as the first time both managed to return in a straight line.

When he finally managed to consolidate the second position, it was Pecco Bagnaia who put himself behind him and Marini to pass them in a straight line and take second place only behind Marco Bezzecchi, who quickly caught up.

Aleix Espargaró was fifth, overtaking Fabio Di Giannantonio who was slowly disappearing. The family cross was placed by his brother Pol Espargaró, who fell when he was in the top ten. The Suzukis had it worse, because in the blink of an eye Joan Mir went down first and Alex Rins later.

Pecco Bagnaia managed to overtake Marco Bezzecchi, and a few laps later it was Fabio Quartararo who, after defending himself tooth and nail from Marini, passed Bezzecchi to try to go after the official Ducati rider.

Quartararo's problem was that Bezzecchi overtook him at the finish line, and as he slammed on the brakes to maintain second position, Marini passed his teammate. All this allowed Bagnaia to take more than a second of advantage, while Johann Zarco and Enea Bastianini came in from behind.

Bastianini came in very strong, setting the best laps, and overtook Zarco to take sixth... and fell, thus reducing a chasing group in which Marini lost places as he was overtaken by Bezzecchi first and Aleix later.

An Aleix Espargaró who grew up and overtook Bezzecchi seven from the end to take third, although Quartararo had already put land in the middle chasing Bagnaia, whose distance decreased a little until he dropped from the second and suggested he could live in close combat was intuited without happening. in Jerez.

That gamble will have to keep waiting: Pecco Bagnaia contained Fabio Quartararo perfectly in the distance to claim his second win of the year and redeem himself for the Le Mans failure, with Aleix Espargaró taking the podium once again to remain fully involved in the fight for the title.

Johann Zarco moved into fourth place, overtaking Marco Bezzecchi on the final lap, with Luca Marini defending sixth place against Brad Binder. Takaaki Nakagami managed to finish eighth ahead of Miguel Oliveira and Marc Márquez, tenth in his last race before the operation and who ended up crying at the end of the race.

After the eighth champion, Fabio Di Giannantonio beat Maverick Viñales by thousandths to get an eleventh position decided by video-finish. Jorge Martín, Álex Márquez and Jack Miller closed out the points, with Raúl Fernández in 21st.

With these results, Fabio Quartararo is eight points ahead of Aleix Espargaró, Enea Bastianini with 28 and Pecco Bagnaia with 41.

Autonews