Alex Marquez ends Aprilia’s dominance with victory as Marc Marquez crashes out

Alex Marquez claimed Ducati’s first MotoGP victory of 2026 at the Spanish Grand Prix, but the Italian marque’s factory team suffered a double retirement.

Having struggled to fight at the front in the opening flyaway races, the younger Marquez bounced back in style at Jerez, claiming a dominant win from fifth on the grid.

The result followed exactly a year after his maiden MotoGP victory at the same venue, and almost six months after he scored Ducati’s last victory at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi had to settle for second after winning the last five grands prix in a row, while Fabio di Giannantonio completed the podium positions for VR46.

At the start of the race, Marc Marquez made a clean start from pole position to grab the holeshot into Turn 1. But he immediately found himself under pressure from Bezzecchi and Alex Marquez, who both made rapid getaways from the second row to slot directly behind him.

Alex Marquez appeared the quickest of the trio and wasted no time to pass Bezzecchi, before piling in pressure on his elder brother.

Closing the gap at the start of lap 2, the Gresini rider made the decisive move into Turn 6, sending his bike up the inside to storm into the lead.

With Alex Marquez having been the fastest rider all weekend in dry conditions, a counter attack was always unlikely, but Marc Marquez threw it all away at Turn 11, losing the front of his factory Ducati.

With the reigning world champion out, Bezzecchi emerged as Alex Marquez’s closest challenger, with Jorge Martin following the pair in third after making a rocketing start from 10th on the grid.

But di Giannantonio soon joined the battle, snatching third from Martin on lap 4 before reeling in Bezzecchi. The Aprilia rider managed to respond to di Giannantonio’s pace to maintain the status quo, but their battle allowed Marquez to run away at the front.

By half-distance, the Spaniard was circulating two seconds in front – and he went on to take the chequered flag by the same margin to claim his fourth career win in the premier class.

While Bezzecchi’s winning run came to an end due to Marquez’s dominant performance, a second-place finish allowed him to consolidate his lead at the top of the standings.

Meanwhile, di Giannantonio finished a strong third to claim his second Sunday podium in four races, with Martin banking a solid haul of points in fourth.

Trackhouse duo Ai Ogura and Raul Fernandez came from lower regions of the top 12 to climb to fifth and sixth respectively, both passing the LCR Honda of Johann Zarco late in the race. Seventh-place, however, still marked Honda’s best finish of the year.

Johann Zarco, Team LCR Honda

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

Tech3’s Enea Bastianini emerged as the highest-placed KTM rider at Jerez after outduelling the factory’s star rider Pedro Acosta, who eventually slipped to 10th behind Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer.

Francesco Bagnaia was running ahead of Acosta in ninth when he suddenly slowed down on lap 13 with what appeared to be a loss of power. The two-time MotoGP champion brought the bike back to the pits, marking a double retirement for the factory Ducati Team following Marquez’s crash earlier in the race.

Bagnaia’s retirement elevated Brad Binder (KTM) and Franco Morbidelli (VR46) to 11th and 12th, while Luca Marini recovered to 13th on the factory Honda after a poor opening lap left him down in 18th.

Marini’s team-mate Joan Mir also mounted a strong comeback after serving two long lap penalties for an FP2 infringement, finishing right behind the top Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo in 15th.

Aprilia’s wildcard Lorenzo Savadori joined Bagnaia and Marc Marquez in the list of retirees.

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– The Autosport.com Team