Bezzecchi crashes out, Marquez pounces
One lap. That is how long Marco Bezzecchi led his home Grand Prix at Misano on Sunday afternoon. He had pole position in front of an Italian grandstand, a new lap record to his name, and he had even held Marc Marquez off into turn one, something nobody had managed in the previous three races. Then the front of the Aprilia folded through the long, fast right-handers that close the lap.
The San Marino Grand Prix belonged to somebody else after that, and that somebody was Marquez.
Jorge Martin inherited the lead first. The Spaniard got past Marquez on lap seven of 27, though he did not keep it long. The reigning champion took it straight back. Behind them, Alex Marquez latched onto his brother’s rear wheel and sat there, half a second away.
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657 thousandths between brothers, and a title race that changes hands
Alex Marquez took second, 657 thousandths off the win. Pedro Acosta was third on the KTM, 2.326s back. Fermin Aldeguer brought last year’s Gresini bike home in fourth. Martin faded to fifth, more than 14 seconds adrift.
That fade is expensive. Martin had gone into Sunday 14 points clear of Marquez after Saturday’s sprint. He leaves Misano second, with Marquez top of the standings for the first time this season. Bezzecchi, 22 points back in third before the start, got nothing at all out of his home race.
Misano took plenty of victims
Francesco Bagnaia and Diogo Moreira also went down. Jack Miller, Joan Mir and Alex Rins pulled into the pits. Johann Zarco was the last to give up. Fabio Quartararo salvaged 10th for Yamaha. Everyone had started on medium tyres, front and rear.
There was some theatre to the weekend too. Aprilia ran a white livery lifted from Gilles Villeneuve’s suit at the 1981 Monaco Grand Prix, Vespa logo on the sleeve. Gresini went out in a replica of the Honda San Carlo colours Marco Simoncelli used to race in.
Marquez leaves round 14 of 22 with both the sprint and the Grand Prix. Next up is the Red Bull Ring, next weekend, for the Austrian Grand Prix.
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