MotoGP: Bagnaia wins the Spanish Grand Prix, ahead of Marc Marquez

The return of the king: Italian Francesco Bagnaia, two-time reigning MotoGP world champion, held off six-time Spanish world champion Marc Marquez to win his second Grand Prix of the season in Spain on Sunday. At the foot of the Andalusian hills jostled by the fervor of some 145,000 spectators, the duel of champions between the two strong men of the day therefore turned to the advantage of the Italian from the official Ducati team: “I really liked this battle with Marc” savored the winner of the day at the finish. On the Jérez de la Frontera track, Bagnaia won his second GP of the season after that of Qatar at the beginning of March. “It was a very close race!”, responded Marquez. Starting from pole for the 65th time in his career in the elite - the first with Ducati-Gresini which he joined at the start of the year after turning the page on ten years of history with Honda - the Catalan superstar finally finished second.

He tried to regain the lead of the race several times - for a few moments - in vain: "I tried to follow him but he (Bagnaia, editor's note) was faster than me", admitted Marquez, under the eyes of Formula 1 driver Carlos Sainz, seen on Sunday in his compatriot's garage. The 31-year-old Catalan will therefore have to wait again to regain the top step of the podium, on which he has not been since October 2021 (during the Emilia-Romagna GP).

Another Italian, Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati-VR46) completes the podium in this fourth round of the season (out of 21). Alex Marquez, the brother of Marc Marquez who also rides a Ducati-Gresini, finished 4th, ahead of Bagnaia's teammate, Enea Bastinani, 5th. Debutant Pedro Acosta (GasGas-Tech3), who was expected to be at the front at home in Spain, only finished 10th.

The Spaniard Jorge Martin, reigning vice-champion and leader in the championship, lost big on Sunday on his home soil: leading the GP shortly before halfway, but under the threat of Bagnaia, “Martinator” fell. If the Spaniard retains the lead in the championship, his Italian rival for the title of world champion last year moves up to second place overall and is only 17 points behind Martin.

This weekend, the grid included three drivers in addition to the usual 22 starters since the Spaniard Dani Pedrosa for KTM, the German Stefan Bradl for Honda and the Italian Lorenzo Savadori for Aprilia benefit from an invitation to compete in the test. In Moto2, the Spaniard Fermin Aldeguer, expected next year in MotoGP in the Ducati fold, won his first victory of the season, a performance which allows him to recover 3rd place overall, of which the American Jake Dixon occupies the head.