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Haydn Cobb

MotoGP Italian GP: Bagnaia sees off Bezzecchi for Mugello sprint victory

Bagnaia blasted clear from pole position but briefly lost the lead when spots of rain fell at the end of lap two, as Jorge Martin took the initiative with riders tentatively judging the conditions. 

But the rain spots relented and at the start of lap four Bagnaia charged back into the lead at the first corner, and a lap later Bezzecchi repeated the trick on Martin to take second place. 

Bagnaia was able to keep clear of any late attacks from the VR46 Ducati rider to clinch his third sprint race win of the season, taking victory by 0.369 seconds, with Martin defending from Pramac Ducati team-mate Johann Zarco to complete the top three. 

Bagnaia converted his pole position into the holeshot, while behind him Brad Binder clattered into slow-starting Alex Marquez at the first corner, which sent down the Gresini Ducati rider and earned the South African a long lap penalty. 

At the start of the second lap, Martin nipped by Marc Marquez to take second, but moments later the rain flags were displayed which appeared to spook the pack that was uncertain about the track conditions. 

This meant a chopping and changing of the order for the following two laps, until the spots of rain drifted away and calm was restored. Bagnaia reasserted himself at the front into Turn 1 on lap four and at the start of lap five title rival Bezzecchi nipped into second place ahead of Martin.  

Marco Bezzecchi, VR46 Racing Team (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

With both conditions and the order stabilising, Bagnaia maintained his advantage over the closing laps to keep out of reach of a late attack from Bezzecchi to take the win. 

Martin fended off Pramac Ducati team-mate Zarco on the final lap to complete the sprint race top three, with VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini fighting through an injury to take fifth ahead of the squabbling KTM of Jack Miller and Honda's Marc Marquez. 

Aleix Espargaro, another nursing an injury, took eighth place for Aprilia as Ducati factory rider Enea Bastianini saw the chequered flag for the first time this season after an injury in the opening sprint race back in Portugal. The Italian took ninth to round out the points-paying positions. 

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo just missed out in 10th, as Binder’s long lap penalty meant he was only able to recover to 11th – but he did set a new top speed record in MotoGP when he blasted to 227.48mph on his factory KTM. 

Bagnaia’s sprint race win means he extends his MotoGP world championship lead to four points over Bezzecchi ahead of Sunday’s Italian GP at Mugello.

MotoGP Italian GP - Sprint race results:

Cla # Rider Bike Gap
1 1 Italy Francesco Bagnaia Ducati  
2 72 Italy Marco Bezzecchi Ducati 0.369
3 89 Spain Jorge Martin Ducati 0.952
4 5 France Johann Zarco Ducati 1.009
5 10 Italy Luca Marini Ducati 3.668
6 43 Australia Jack Miller KTM 3.772
7 93 Spain Marc Marquez Honda 3.905
8 41 Spain Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 6.062
9 23 Italy Enea Bastianini Ducati 6.431
10 20 France Fabio Quartararo Yamaha 6.458
11 33 South Africa Brad Binder KTM 6.672
12 88 Portugal Miguel Oliveira Aprilia 7.930
13 12 Spain Maverick Viñales Aprilia 9.022
14 49 Italy Fabio Di Giannantonio Ducati 11.508
15 51 Italy Michele Pirro Ducati 14.344
16 21 Italy Franco Morbidelli Yamaha 16.666
17 30 Japan Takaaki Nakagami Honda 16.725
18 32 Italy Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia 17.247
19 25 Spain Raúl Fernández Aprilia 21.596
20 37 Spain Augusto Fernandez KTM 35.212
21 94 Germany Jonas Folger KTM 46.189
  42 Spain Alex Rins Honda  
  73 Spain Alex Marquez Ducati  
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