MOTO GP

Spanish GP: unstoppable Álex Márquez 

MotoGP concluded its visit to Jerez de la Frontera this Sunday with an eventful Spanish GP, the fourth stage of the 2026 season. Álex Márquez won in dominant fashion, finishing more than 2 seconds ahead of Marco Bezzecchi, with Fabio di Giannantonio completing the podium on a day when Marc Márquez retired. Diogo Moreira finished 17th.

Even before the start, a series of penalties had accumulated throughout the weekend. Jorge Martín was penalized with three grid positions for hindering Álex Márquez in Friday's FP2. Joan Mir received a two-lap penalty for ignoring a black and orange flag. Toprak Razgatlioglu received a one-lap penalty for the incident with Savadori in the sprint.

Just like on Saturday, Marc Márquez had a good start and maintained the lead without problems. But, unlike yesterday, Bezzecchi also had a good start, moving up to second and immediately putting pressure on Marc, while Álex was third, with Martín already recovering from the penalty and moving up to fourth.

At the end of the first lap, Marc was leading, with Álex in second, having overtaken Bezzecchi in the fourth sector. The Italian from Aprilia was being pressured by his teammate, with Di Giannantonio in fifth. Moreira moved up to 20th.

With a better pace, Álex took the lead during the second stint. And while chasing his brother, Marc lost his balance on his bike at turn 11 and crashed, his GP26 hitting the gravel hard.

Without the pressure from Marc, Álex managed to breathe easier in relation to Bezzecchi, getting within 0.6s on lap 5, with Di Giannantonio in third after overtaking Martín, with Zarco closing out the top 5, while Diogo was in 18th.

With Márquez more relaxed in the lead, opening up a 1.7s gap to Bezzecchi, the main battle in the leading group was between the Trackhouses of Raúl Fernández and Ogura against the KTMs of Acosta and Bastianini for sixth place, with the four riders exchanging positions in the following laps. However, contact with Fernández caused Acosta to lose a part of his fairing, leading to a drop in performance.

When the race reached the halfway point, Álex Márquez was more than 2s ahead of Bezzecchi, who was 0.8s ahead of Di Giannantonio, with Martín and Zarco closing out the top 5, while Moreira was 18th, having been overtaken by Mir and Miller.

In the end, Álex Márquez secured an important victory, more than 2s ahead of Marco Bezzecchi, while Fabio di Giannantonio completed the podium. Completing the top 10 were: Jorge Martín, Ai Ogura, Raúl Fernández, Johann Zarco, Enea Bastianini, Fermín Aldeguer and Pedro Acosta. Diogo Moreira finished 17th, in his first GP outside the points zone.

Autonews