MOTO GP

Marc Márquez sweeps the weekend on the Rimini Riviera

Marc Márquez faced a different rival this Sunday (13) but won again, sweeping the San Marino and Rimini Riviera GP weekend. The Ducati rider saw Marco Bezzecchi crash on the very first lap but had to overcome Jorge Martín to claim victory in front of 184,000 fans at Misano.

With the win—and Martín finishing fifth—Marc Márquez reached 274 points and took the lead in the Riders' Championship, tied with the Spanish Aprilia rider.

Marco Bezzecchi learned the lesson from the Sprint race and managed to defend his pole position against Marc Márquez this time around, while Jorge Martín surprised everyone by overtaking Fermín Aldeguer, and Pedro Acosta finished fifth, ahead of Álex Márquez.

Bezzecchi pushed hard from the start to get past Marc Márquez but paid the price for his eagerness by crashing at Turn 12; this left Marc Márquez in the lead ahead of Martín, already pulling away from a trio in which Aldeguer lost two positions to Acosta and Álex. Further back, Jack Miller crashed, and Diogo Moreira suffered the same fate shortly after.

Marc Márquez has done it again. Twenty-four hours after winning Saturday's Sprint, the reigning world champion turned the San Marino Grand Prix into a pivotal moment for the title; he recovered from an early setback to take the lead late in the race and, in doing so, drew level on points with championship leader Jorge Martín, claiming the top spot in the standings based on his superior number of victories.

The afternoon began with fireworks no one wanted to see—at least not from Aprilia's perspective. Marco Bezzecchi, starting from pole position at his home race, held a clean lead off the start before crashing out on the opening lap—a brutal, instant end to a weekend that had promised so much for the Italian in front of his home crowd. With Bezzecchi out of contention, Márquez inherited control of the race, but the job was far from over.

Martín, starting fifth on the grid, produced exactly the kind of fearless recovery ride his championship position demanded. By the seventh lap, he had worked his way to the front and was leading the Grand Prix outright, briefly putting himself in a position to extend his lead over Márquez rather than defend it. But the reigning champion refused to let the moment slip away. Márquez chased Martín over the following laps, setting personal best times along the way, and finally made a move stick at Turn 6 on lap 12, retaking the lead and never looking back.

From that point on, Márquez controlled the race, crossing the finish line comfortably ahead with a fastest lap of 1:31.069. Alex Márquez capped off a strong day for the Gresini Ducati team by finishing second, just 0.657 seconds behind his older brother, while Pedro Acosta rounded out an impressive race in third place for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing. Fermin Aldeguer secured a front-row start by finishing fourth for Gresini, while Martin—who led part of the race—dropped to fifth by the checkered flag, a painful result given how close he came to leaving with a much stronger points haul.

Diogo Moreira started from 15th place; he got off to a good start and gained four positions to move into 11th. However, the Brazilian crashed on the third lap and retired from the race early on.

Consequently, the top 10 for the San Marino and Rimini Riviera GP was as follows: Marc Márquez, Álex Márquez, Pedro Acosta, Fermín Aldeguer, Martín, Raúl Fernández, Luca Marini, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Enea Bastianini, and Fabio Quartararo.

How the MotoGP San Marino GP unfolded: Sunday brought blue skies and plenty of sunshine for the San Marino and Rimini Riviera GP. At the time of the premier class's main race, temperatures registered 27°C in the air and 40°C on the track surface, with winds of 3 km/h and 44% humidity for the Italian round.

Ai Ogura and Maverick Viñales, both injured, missed the GP. Unlike the situation in Aragón, however, Trackhouse was left without a replacement this time, leaving Raúl Fernández as the team's sole rider in the pits. Meanwhile, at Tech3, Pol Espargaró stepped in for "Top Gun" once again.

At the start, Marc Márquez tried to replicate his aggressive riding from Saturday but got away poorly and couldn't attack Bezzecchi. The Italian, for his part, finally made a good start and held the lead, while Martín also launched well and jumped up to third place. Bezzecchi’s lead, however, was short-lived. Still on the first lap, the #72 rider lost control of his bike between turns 12 and 13, ended up in the gravel, and handed the lead to Marc Márquez, who was then on track to repeat his sprint race result.

Moreira got off to a strong start on the LCR Honda and gained several positions in the opening laps, but he crashed at Turn 4 on the third lap and retired early in the race.

From that point on, the battle for victory was confined to Marc Márquez and Martín. The Aprilia rider found a good rhythm and began challenging the #93 during the first half of the race, while Morbidelli and Bagnaia retired after being involved in further crashes at Misano.

On the seventh lap, Martín decided to attack Marc Márquez and successfully overtook him at Turn 14 with a skillful maneuver. Even so, the Catalan rider didn't ease off and began chasing down the #89, while Álex Márquez also closed in on the leaders.

Álex Márquez brought Gresini into the mix and latched onto his brother, while Martín managed to pull away from the Ducatis, opening up a 0.8-second gap by the ninth lap. However, that advantage shrank over the following laps, putting all three riders in contention for the win at Misano; only 0.5 seconds separated the top three.

On the 12th of 27 laps, Marc Márquez went on the attack again and reclaimed the lead. The #93 sized up Martín, dove down the inside, and completed the pass to retake the lead of the San Marino GP.

On the 14th lap, it was Álex Márquez’s turn to overtake Martín and take second place, while Acosta emerged as a surprise contender, threatening the Aprilia rider’s hold on third place.

The KTM rider upped his pace, closed in on Martín, and completed the pass on the 16th lap. Facing a sharp drop in performance, the Aprilia rider struggled to remain competitive and score crucial championship points.

From the 19th lap onwards, the fiercest battle of the race was between Aldeguer and Martín for fourth place. This duel took on added significance due to the potential tie in the Riders' Championship standings between Marc Márquez and Martín, should the #89 rider be overtaken by the Gresini rider.

Aldeguer completed the pass on the 20th lap. The #54 rider outmaneuvered Martín to take fourth place, putting Marc Márquez at the top of the championship standings—tied with the Spanish Aprilia rider.

Marc Marquez won the 2026 San Marino MotoGP GP at Misano after his main title rival, Marco Bezzecchi, crashed on the first lap. With this result, the reigning champion took the championship lead for the first time this season.

Bezzecchi had finally managed to hold off Marc Marquez in the battle for the lead. After losing out to the Spaniard at Turn 1 in the previous three races, the Aprilia rider had managed to overtake the reigning champion. However, everything changed at the end of the first lap.

Bezzecchi crashed in the fast sequence of right-hand corners and retired from the race. This opened the door for Marquez, who proceeded to control the race on his Ducati Lenovo.

Jorge Martin tries to challenge Marquez...Aprilia still managed to get Jorge Martin into the fight for the win. On the seventh of the scheduled 27 laps, the Spaniard overtook Marc Marquez and took the lead. Shortly after, however, Alex Marquez also joined the battle.

The Gresini rider, sporting a special white livery on his bike, closed the gap to his brother's rear wheel. Marc responded immediately and retook the lead by overtaking Martin.

The battle between the Marquez brothers intensified. Alex managed to pass Martin and take second place, setting up a family one-two. He subsequently cut the gap to Marc to less than half a second.

Martin loses positions and the championship lead...While the Marquez brothers fought for the win, Martin began to lose pace. First, the Aprilia rider was overtaken by KTM's Pedro Acosta. Then, Fermin Aldeguer also passed the Spaniard.

Aldeguer's overtake had significant championship implications. By losing that position, Martin lost the lead in the world standings.

The race also saw other crashes and retirements. Diogo Moreira and Francesco Bagnaia crashed shortly after Bezzecchi. Jack Miller, Joan Mir, and Alex Rins retired in the pits.

Johann Zarco was the final rider to drop out of the race. The Frenchman crashed in the final laps and, consequently, was unable to complete the race.

MotoGP action resumes from September 18 to 20 at the Austrian GP, ​​the 15th round of the 2026 season. 

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