Marc Marquez soaks up the strain as Alex Marquez crashes out

Marc Marquez withstood race-long strain from the Aprilia of Marco Bezzecchi to win MotoGP’s Dutch Grand Prix at Assen on Sunday.

The manufacturing unit Ducati rider’s world championship lead stretched to a powerful 68 factors as his nearest challenger, brother Alex Marquez, crashed his Gresini Ducati. The youthful Marquez additionally fractured his left hand within the course of.

Fabio Quartararo had yet one more day to overlook after claiming pole place, and ended the race in tenth place. 

The Frenchman misplaced his lead instantly after a poor begin, as Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), Alex Marquez and Marc Marquez slotted in forward of him.

As Marc handed Alex initially of the second lap, it was already turning into clear that some riders had been on the transfer and others had been struggling. Bezzecchi had taken Quartararo’s fourth place moments earlier, becoming a member of Marc as a person in search of extra.

Marc acquired precisely that when he handed Bagnaia on the chicane on lap 5 to stake his declare for race honours.

Quartararo and Alex Marquez, then again, had been heading in the other way. By lap six, the poleman’s Yamaha was out of the highest 10 and Alex had dropped behind each Bezzecchi and Pedro Acosta (KTM).

Alex’s battle with Acosta for fourth got here to a nasty finish because the Gresini rider tried to struggle again and the pair touched popping out of Strubben. A suspected brush on the brake lever noticed Alex immediately fall on his means out of the nook – and the crash resulted in a fractured hand, which was confirmed earlier than the race was even over.

In a foul few moments for Gresini, Fermin Aldeguer additionally high-sided, taking Honda’s Joan Mir with him. 
These incidents punched a few holes within the operating order, creating a transparent prime 5 consisting of Marc, Bagnaia, Bezzecchi, Acosta and Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati).

On lap eight, Bezzecchi continued his progress by passing Bagnaia to imagine second place. Acosta adopted him previous the Italian a lap later.

Behind them, Fabio di Giannantonio was rising as one other man on a mission as he fought his means again from a poor begin on the opposite VR46 bike.

Because the tempo remained modest, the highest 5 grew to become a prime seven, with Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM) and di Giannantonio becoming a member of the again of the practice.

At half-distance, nevertheless, Marquez set a quickest lap as he started to ask actual questions of his chasers. 
This break up the highest seven right into a prime 4 and a prime three: solely Bezzecchi, Acosta and Bagnaia might preserve tempo with Marc.

Bagnaia reclaimed third place from Acosta because the tempo hotted up and the laps wound down. ‘Pecco’ in the end shook off Acosta, however by the top of the race he had additionally misplaced contact with the main pair.

Solely Bezzecchi was in a position to preserve Marc trustworthy all through the race, trying just like the quickest man for many of the means. However, simply as Alex had found within the dash, Marc was unbeatable on the elements of the observe that mattered for overtaking.

The battle for fifth additionally fizzled out within the last laps, with Vinales coming house forward of di Giannantonio and Morbidelli, who needed to serve a protracted lap penalty for sneaking throughout the chicane in an try and preserve his team-mate behind with a number of laps to go.

Raul Fernandez completed a lonely eight on the Trackhouse Aprilia, with Enea Bastianini (Tech3) and Quartararo rounding out the highest 10. 

MotoGP Dutch Grand Prix outcomes