Francesco Bagnaia holds off Marc Marquez to win MotoGP’s pulse-raising Aragon Grand Prix

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The Italian clinched his maiden MotoGP triumph as he held off Marc Marquez in some style. The duo pushed each other all race long with the dramatic race-long battle culminating in an intense three-lap face-off.

Starting Grid

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Francesco Bagnaia started a MotoGP race from pole position for the first time as his 1:46.322 was enough to put him at the front of the pack. The Italian was joined on the front row of the grid by his Factory Ducati teammate Jack Miller and championship leader Fabio Quartararo.

Marc Marquez fronted row two, starting fourth ahead of his compatriots Jorge Martin in fifth and Aleix Espargaro in sixth. Row three was occupied by Suzuki’s Joan Mir who qualified in seventh ahead of Pol Espargaro and Enea Bastianini.

On row four, Johann Zarco lined up in 10th alongside Takaaki Nakagami and KTM’s Brad Binder who started 11th and 12th respectively. Spaniard Iker Lecuona started from 13th with Alex Marquez in 14th and Cal Crutchlow in 15th.

Danilo Petrucci fronted row six ahead of Luca Marini and Miguel Oliviera. On row seven, Alex Rins started 19th, alongside Aprilia new-boy Maverick Vinales and Yamaha SRT’s Valentino Rossi in 21st with Jake Dixon rounding out the field in 22nd.

As It Happened

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The lights went out and it was the Factory Ducati bikes who got the best start as Bagnaia held onto his lead. Marc Marquez made an audacious move into turn one and made it stick as he moved up to second.

Quartararo got the worst start out of the front runners as he was demoted to fifth by Mir. Moments later, the championship leader was knocked down to sixth as Martin overtook him at the end of the first lap.

Two riders crashed out early on as Alex Marquez’s and Dixon’s afternoon’s ended on laps one and two respectively.

Back at the front, the gap between leaders Bagnaia and Marquez and the following group of Miller, Aleix Espargaro, Mir and Martin fluctuated until lap 11 when Miller made a mistake and ran wide at turn 17, which saw him drop from third to fifth behind Espargaro and Mir.

Mir was next to make a move as he saw an opportunity to move up into the podium places over the Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro. The Suzuki man made a brave dive up the inside of his compatriot as he chased down Bagnaia and Marc Marquez.

Meanwhile, Quartararo’s afternoon went from bad to worse as he was overtaken by Lecuona and Binder. The Frenchman soon found himself in the thick of a battle between Nakagami and Bastianini at the start of lap 14, a tussle he managed to stay in the lead of.

Leader Bagnaia started to come under pressure from Marquez as the race entered the final 10 laps, and with three laps to go, the Spaniard’s pressure started forcing the Ducati man into minor mistakes.

On lap 21, Marquez made the first move into turn five but Bagnaia snatched the lead straight back. The Italian couldn’t be dislodged from the lead at turn 15 either as the duo traded blows for the lead.

Second-place Marquez tried another move up the inside at turn five but again ran deep which gifted the lead back to Bagnaia. Turn 15 was the next place where the Spaniard would retry to clinch the race lead, however, the leading Italian held firm and wouldn’t give in.

Onto the last lap, and with Marquez all over the rear tyre of Bagnaia, he made a brave but unsuccessful lunge into turn one as Bagnaia clung onto the race lead. Once again, Marquez tried a move up the inside at turn five, but it was unsuccessful again as Bagnaia got him straight back.

The Spaniard wasn’t finished there as he sized up a pass into turn 12 but ran deep which saw Bagnaia breeze home to take his maiden MotoGP victory in emphatic style. The Italian claimed Ducati’s first victory at Aragon since Casey Stoner in 2010.

A valiant fight from Marquez saw him come home in second, with Mir in third. Aleix Espargaro, Miller, Bastianini, Binder, Quartararo, Martin and Nakagami rounded out the top 10 finishers.

Bagnaia’s victory added to Quartararo’s misfortunes as the Frenchman’s advantage at the top of the MotoGP standings went from 65 points to 53 with five rounds remaining.

What’s Next?

MotoGP heads straight to the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli for the San Marino Grand Prix. A strong track for the Yamaha machinery where Fabio Quartararo will hope to rectify his struggles in Spain as he bids to edge ever closer to claiming his first-ever MotoGP title.

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