Marquez outfoxes Bezzecchi to take crucial Misano sprint win
Defending MotoGP champion Marc Marquez defeated title rival Marco Bezzecchi to win the sprint race at Misano.
Equipped with the medium rear tyre - versus the conventional sprint choice of soft - Marquez pounced on Bezzecchi immediately at the start, using a marginally better getaway to take control of the inside line into Turn 1.
He had far too much pace early on for Bezzecchi, building a lead of over a second - though Bezzecchi did whittle this down to around the 0.5-0.6s mark in the second half of the 13-lap race.But the fastest lap of the race from Marquez on lap 11 broke his resistance, and he settled into second behind Marquez.
Points leader Jorge Martin mitigated the damage by completing the podium - which means he now heads Marquez by 14 points and Bezzecchi by 22.
Fifth after the start, Martin quickly picked off Fermin Aldeguer and then later in the race overtook outside title contender Fabio Di Giannantonio - pouncing at Turn 6 and then fighting off the Ducati on the straight out of the corner.
Di Giannantonio and Alex Marquez completed the top five, the latter having made the most of an Aldeguer v. Pedro Acosta battle up ahead of him to clear both.That battle ended up putting Aldeguer in the firing line of Raul Fernandez, too, and he ultimately came home behind both Acosta and Fernandez, and ahead of last points-scorer Luca Marini.
Fabio Quartararo was the only rider to crash, falling off when he ran out of room trying to squeeze past Diogo Moreira on the inside. He remounted to finish 21st and last.
Race results
1 Marc Marquez (Ducati)
2 Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) +1.068s
3 Jorge Martin (Aprilia) +3.538s
4 Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) +3.968s
5 Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) +4.348s
6 Pedro Acosta (KTM) +6.944s
7 Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) +7.707s
8 Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) +8.832s
9 Luca Marini (Honda) +11.712s
10 Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) +14.534s
11 Dario Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) +17.043s
12 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) +17.405s
13 Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) +17.763s
14 Brad Binder (KTM) +18.181s
15 Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) +18.476s
16 Pol Espargaro (Tech3 KTM) +18.752s
17 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) +21.113s
18 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac Yamaha) +20.698s*
19 Alex Rins (Yamaha) +21.740s
20 Joan Mir (Honda) +22.054s
21 Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) +24.419s
Razgatlioglu received a one-place penalty for track limits on the last lap
