MotoGP: Jorge Martin wins in Portugal, Marc Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia hang on with 3 laps remaining

Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati-Pramac) won the Portuguese Grand Prix, the second round of 21 of the MotoGP season, Sunday on the hilly Algarve circuit in Portimao.

The Madrilenian, who started in third position, beat the Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati) and the surprising Spanish rookie Pedro Acosta (GasGas-Tech3), who won the first podium of his career in the premier category in his second Grand Prix.

Three laps from the finish, the two-time reigning Italian world champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), who was in fifth position, collided with the six-time Spanish world champion Marc Marquez (Ducati-Gresini) who was trying to overtake him, causing the fall of the two drivers who lost precious points in the race for the world title.

Maverick Vinales (Aprilia), winner of the sprint on Saturday, held second place for most of the race, but he had a problem at the start of the last lap and crashed after the first turn.

These serial falls at the end of the race upset the rest of the ranking and it was the two KTMs of the South African Brad Binder and the Australian Jack Miller who finished at the foot of the podium, ahead of the Italian Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati- VR-46).

The Frenchman Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) finally took a good seventh place, while his compatriot Johann Zarco (Honda-LCR), in difficulty all weekend, snatched the point allocated to fifteenth in the race almost in spite of himself.

Martin, third in the sprint on Saturday, took the lead from the start of the Grand Prix and never let it go again and performed very well on Sunday as he took the lead in the world championship with 18 and 21 respectively. points ahead of Binder and Bastianini.

“Today I had no problems. I left very quickly, I tried to manage the tires but I knew I had to accelerate. It feels good to win again,” said the Madrilenian after his sixth success in MotoGP.

Bagnaia, on the other hand, is relegated to fourth place with 37 units on the clock, ahead of the unexpected Acosta (28) and Marc Marquez (27).

“There is nothing to complain about today, the team did a phenomenal job,” said the Spanish prodigy just after a moving hug with Hervé Poncharal, the French boss of his team: “I had a perfect motorcycle. We still need to improve in lots of places, especially in sprinting, but today there's not only the red of Ducati on the podium, there's the red of Tech3! First podium for me, it’s great.”