MOTO GP

Álex Márquez breaks the bank and wins his first MotoGP race

The lights come on, and Marc's start isn't great. His bike lifts sharply, and Bagnaia and Álex overtake him, but under braking, he regains the position with his brother. This poor start from Cervera affects the start of the race for the MotoGP leader, who tries to recover quickly. And on that first lap, he has a spectacular battle with Pecco Bagnaia at the Nieto-Peluqui corners, where the two come together.

This favors Quartararo's escape, opening a safe gap on the Ducatis following him: Bagnaia, Marc, Álex, and Aldeguer. Viñales rides sixth, holding off Di Giannantonio, while Morbidelli had gone wide at the start and is further back.

The dramatic twist comes on the third lap, when Marc Márquez crashes. The Cervera native went wide at Turn 8 and, despite trying to save it, was dragged out and crashed. However, he rejoined the group, 10 seconds behind Savadori and just ahead of Bezzecchi, who had also crashed at the start.

A lap later, Álex Márquez overtook Bagnaia and launched an attack on Quartararo. The three escaped with a one-second advantage over the second group led by Aldeguer. However, a couple of laps later, it was the Murcia native who made the mistake and crashed at Turn 6, while Maverick Viñales moved into fourth.

Far from rushing, Álex Márquez took these laps calmly after the Frenchman, whom he attacked on lap 11, at the end of the straight, at Turn 1, with a blow that Quartararo hadn't expected.

At that point in the race, it seemed the Frenchman's Yamaha was going down, but Bagnaia couldn't catch him. Behind him, Maverick Viñales smelled blood and closed in on the Italian's Ducati, just under the 1-second mark.

A day of many crashes at Jerez. On lap 15, Joan Mir crashed while challenging Franco Morbidelli for sixth place. The Italian also crashed two laps later. This, combined with Jack Miller's retirement due to technical problems, meant Marc Márquez entered the points, as the Cervera native was the fastest on track in the final stretch of the race, despite having a destroyed sidewall.

The final third of the race arrived, with Álex Márquez lapping consistently in 1'37 and already more than two seconds ahead of his pursuers, who now formed a trio of Quartararo, Bagnaia, and Viñales. And he, in turn, has a lead of almost 3 seconds over Di Giannantonio.

Behind him, Márquez is putting on a spectacular comeback, already 13th with 5 laps to go after passing Raúl Fernández and a combative Aleix Espargaró.

The laps are ticking by, and Álex Márquez remains solidly in the lead, with Quartararo holding off Bagnaia and Viñales, who is beginning to struggle in the final stretch of the race. The KTM rider will be left with the sweetest chance of achieving another podium finish.

With a historic lap, in which he allows himself the luxury of waving to the fans as he passes Nieto-Peluqui, Álex Márquez celebrates his first MotoGP victory, which also marks the 200th victory for Spanish motorcycling in the premier class.

Quartararo achieved a hard-fought podium finish on the Yamaha, after a near-perfect weekend for him, which was crowned by the popular vote, taking the first "rider of the day" award, which had debuted in Jerez. Third place for Pecco Bagnaia is invaluable for the championship, which is now led by the younger Márquez brother, with one point over his brother and 20 over the Italian.

Finally, Viñales finished fourth, with Di Giannanotnio fifth, Binder sixth, and Acosta seventh, who, despite a dull race, also scored good points. And on the final lap, Marc Márquez also overtook Álex Rins and finally took 12th place.

Mundoquatrorodas