MotoGP Dutch GP: Bezzecchi defeats Bagnaia in Assen sprint, Quartararo third

Although VR46 rider Bezzecchi briefly lost the lead from pole position, the man who had dominated the entire weekend was soon back past Bagnaia's factory machine. The world champion, who had started second, had no answer.

The result consolidates Bezzecchi's hold on third in the standings, with Bagnaia still leading Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin. Bagnaia's advantage has been stretched to 21 points following the sprint race, with Martin only able to finish sixth.

All the front runners opted for a combination of hard front tyre and soft rear. When the lights turned green, Bezzecchi lost out not only to Bagnaia at the first corner, but also to a fast-starting Brad Binder (KTM).

But it was only a lap later that the Italian was past Binder, with Bezzecchi then free to go after his countryman and Ducati rival Bagnaia. He promptly set the fastest lap of the race on lap three.

The battle had barely got going before it was over. Bagnaia ran wide on the fourth lap and almost lost the lead into Turn 5. He held on, but Bezzecchi simply blasted past him on the exit.

The lead remained a narrow one for the rest of the race, and hovered mostly just beneath the one-second mark, but Bezzecchi was able to control it from there to the flag.

Bagnaia was eventually able to shake off Binder, Quartararo and Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, though his margin to the chasers was hardly comfortable either.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

The scrap between Binder, Quartaro and Espargaro never really ignited in the last lap, and the trio crossed the line in that order.

But Binder was issued a three-second penalty for exceeding track limits, promoting Quartararo to a podium position that gave some much-needed joy to the Yamaha camp. 

It also meant fourth place for Espargaro, with Binder classified fifth following the time penalty, issued in lieu of a long lap penalty.

Martin spent some time battling with Binder, Quartararo and Espargaro, but dropped back almost three seconds behind them by the flag, with Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales less than a second further back.

Bezzecchi's team-mate Luca Marini had a bad start from third on the grid, dropping to fifth at the first corner. He then fell further down the field to an eventual 10th position after being handed a 0.5s penalty for taking a shortcut.

Johann Zarco ran as high as seventh early doors on his Pramac Ducati, but struggled for speed with his medium front tyre and trailed home 13th. Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia) was right with the Frenchman early on, but got shoved aside in a lap-one scrap. He eventually finished 19th.

Honda’s Marc Marquez took the flag in his starting position of 17th, after electing to start on soft tyres both front and rear.

MotoGP Dutch GP - Sprint race results (13 laps):

Cla	#	Rider		Bike	Time	Gap
1	72	Marco Bezzecchi		Ducati	-
2	1	Francesco Bagnaia		Ducati	1.294	1.294
3	20	Fabio Quartararo		Yamaha	1.872	1.872
4	41	Aleix Espargaro		Aprilia	2.245	2.245
5	33	Brad Binder		KTM	4.582	4.582
6	89	Jorge Martin		Ducati	5.036	5.036
7	12	Maverick Viñales		Aprilia	5.876	5.876
8	23	Enea Bastianini		Ducati	10.102	10.102
9	73	Alex Marquez		Ducati	10.525	10.525
10	10	Luca Marini		Ducati	10.556	10.556
11	43	Jack Miller		KTM	11.191	11.191
12	30	Takaaki Nakagami		Honda	11.473	11.473
13	5	Johann Zarco		Ducati	15.439	15.439
14	37	Augusto Fernandez		KTM	17.754	17.754
15	21	Franco Morbidelli		Yamaha	19.508	19.508
16	32	Lorenzo Savadori		Aprilia	19.664	19.664
17	93	Marc Marquez		Honda	19.916	19.916
18	25	Raúl Fernández		Aprilia	20.583	20.583
19	88	Miguel Oliveira		Aprilia	24.269	24.269
20	27	Iker Lecuona		Honda	24.727	24.727
21	94	Jonas Folger		KTM	32.056	32.056
22	6	Stefan Bradl		Honda	35.372	35.372
	49	Fabio Di Giannantonio		Ducati
View full results