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Lewis Duncan

MotoGP Italian GP: Bagnaia cruises to victory, Marquez crashes out again

Having navigated his way through tricky conditions in Saturday’s sprint race at Mugello to win from pole, Bagnaia did the same with ease in Sunday’s full distance contest.

Overtaken off the line by the KTM of Jack Miller, Bagnaia scythed past into Turn 2 to retake the lead and was never headed again across the 23-lap grand prix.

It marks his second sprint/grand prix double of the season and third Sunday victory of 2023, giving him a 21-point lead in the standings.

Marquez’s title hopes failed to find any improvement on Sunday at Mugello, as yet another front-end crash on his troubled Honda while running in the podium battle sent him into his third Sunday DNF of the season.

By the end of the opening lap, Bagnaia led the field by 0.4 seconds as Jorge Martin on the Pramac Ducati quickly dispatched Miller for second.

Martin was able to lift himself out of harm’s reach from the chasing pack, but couldn’t do much to reduce Bagnaia’s lead as his deficit stabilised at around 0.4s-0.6s.

Miller came under attack from VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini and Marquez on the Honda, with the latter attempting a daring double overtake into Turn 1 on lap three.

All three riders were lucky to be avoided by Alex Marquez outbraking himself on the Gresini Ducati, with his brother Marc only able to grab third briefly as Marini shuffled him back to fourth at Turn 2.

Marc Marquez’s race would last just three more tours as he slid out of fourth after running slightly wide into the final corner chasing Marini.

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

Alex Marquez tried to uphold family honour on his Gresini Ducati and took third from Marini on lap 13 into Turn 1 having eased through on Miller on the fourth tour. But he too crashed, the younger Marquez falling as he rounded Turn 2.

At the front Bagnaia steadily pulled away from Martin, eventually getting to the chequered flag 1.067s ahead of the Pramac rider.

The final podium spot went to Martin’s team-mate Johann Zarco, who took third away from Marini on lap 18 after a brief duel.

The VR46 rider settled for fourth, 2.6s behind the podium as he continued to suffer from the thumb injuries he sustained in his Le Mans crash.

Brad Binder was top KTM at the chequered flag in fifth, as Aleix Espargaro – who injured his ankle in a cycling crash earlier in the weekend – snatched sixth away from Miller on his Aprilia by 0.091s.

Marco Bezzecchi on the sister VR46 bike retains second in the standings despite a lowly run to eighth, with Enea Bastianini ninth in his first grand prix as a factory Ducati rider having been absent with a shoulder injury he sustained in the first round of the season.

Franco Morbidelli beat Yamaha team-mate Fabio Quartararo to 10th, with Maverick Vinales 12th on his Aprilia.

Takaaki Nakagami was the only Honda at the finish on his LCR-run RC213V in 13th, with team-mate Alex Rins ruled out with a broken leg and factory Honda runner Joan Mir pulling out on Friday after a crash.

The final points went to Gresini’s Fabio Di Giannantonio and Tech3 rookie Augusto Fernandez.

MotoGP Italian GP - Race result

Cla Rider Bike Gap
1 Italy Francesco Bagnaia Ducati  
2 Spain Jorge Martin Ducati 1.067
3 France Johann Zarco Ducati 1.977
4 Italy Luca Marini Ducati 4.625
5 South Africa Brad Binder KTM 8.925
6 Spain Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 10.908
7 Australia Jack Miller KTM 10.999
8 Italy Marco Bezzecchi Ducati 12.654
9 Italy Enea Bastianini Ducati 17.102
10 Italy Franco Morbidelli Yamaha 17.610
11 France Fabio Quartararo Yamaha 17.861
12 Spain Maverick Viñales Aprilia 19.110
13 Japan Takaaki Nakagami Honda 21.947
14 Italy Fabio Di Giannantonio Ducati 25.906
15 Spain Augusto Fernandez KTM 26.500
16 Italy Michele Pirro Ducati 30.150
17 Spain Raúl Fernández Aprilia 38.001
18 Italy Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia 38.662
19 Germany Jonas Folger KTM 1'18.912
  Spain Alex Marquez Ducati  
  Portugal Miguel Oliveira Aprilia  
  Spain Marc Marquez Honda  
  Spain Alex Rins Honda  
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