Marc Marquez capitalised on an opening-lap crash for Aprilia rival Marco Bezzecchi to win the San Marino Grand Prix and secure the lead in the MotoGP standings.
With Bezzecchi making another grave error early in the race after starting from pole position, the reigning world champion inherited the lead on the opening lap and then fought off Jorge Martin and Alex Marquez to claim his fifth win of the 2026 season.
After battling Ducati’s Marquez through the middle stages of the race, Martin dropped down the order to fifth after his pace fell off a cliff, with Alex Marquez and Pedro Acosta completing the podium spots.
Following the race, Marquez is now level with Martin at the top of the standings on 274 points, but is ahead due to a greater number of race wins.
At lights out, Bezzecchi moved to the right to cover the inside line, ensuring Marquez couldn’t repeat his winning move from the sprint. While that allowed the Italian to retain the lead at Turn 1, he tried too hard to keep the reigning world champion at bay on the opening lap, sliding out of the race at Turn 12.
This left Marquez in the lead, followed by the other Aprilia of Martin, who had cleared the Ducati’s of Fabio Di Giannantonio and Fermin Aldeguer at the start to snatch second.
Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing, Marc Marquez, Ducati Team
Photo by: Andreas Solaro / AFP via Getty Images
While Marquez ran away at the front in the early stages of Saturday’s sprint, he couldn’t create a gap over Martin, who matched his pace through the early stages. With just three tenths separating the pair, Martin launched a surprise attack on Marquez into Turn 4, outbraking the factory Ducati rider to take the lead.
Marquez initially slipped eight tenths behind Martin, dropping into the clutches of his brother Alex, before picking up his pace closing the gap back up again. On lap 12, Marquez sent his Ducati up the inside into Turn 6, passing the Aprilia with ease to take the lead.
As Martin continued to drop down the order, losing places to Alex Marquez and Acosta on the next four laps, Marc Marquez began pulling away at the front, extending his advantage to a second.
Towards the closing stages of the race, Alex Marquez became a serious contender for victory, slashing the gap down to just four tenths of a second. But the factory Ducati rider didn’t make a single mistake in the final laps, taking the chequered flag by 0.657s to make it five wins in seven races.
Running a special livery to pay tribute to the late Marco Simoncelli, Alex Marquez recovered from a horrible Saturday to finish second, securing the first 1-2 for the Marquez brothers this season.
Acosta impressed aboard the factory KTM yet again, rising from seventh on the grid to complete the podium positions.
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team
Photo by: Andreas Solaro / AFP via Getty Images
Aldeguer claimed fourth for Gresini, while Martin struggled to fifth on the factory Aprilia, 14s behind race winner Marquez. This marked only the second time this season that none of the four Aprilias finished on the podium, marking a nightmare weekend for the Noale factory on home turf.
Raul Fernandez finished sixth for Trackhouse after starting 10th, while Fabio di Giannantonio recovered from a slow start to finish seventh for VR46. Enea Bastianini was next up in eighth for Tech3, while Luca Marini (Honda) and Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) completed the top 10.
Only 14 riders finished the race, with Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia the most high-profile retiree after Bezzecchi.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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