MotoGP: Francesco Bagnaia Beats Marc Marquez To Win Aragon GP

Francesco Bagnaia ended an action-packed final laps of the Aragon GP to secure his maiden win. The Ducati rider made no mistake as the race entered its final laps with a fast-charging Marc Marquez catching up on the rider. The duel made for a spectacular end to the race with Bagnaia claimed victory with a margin of 0.673s. Claiming the third spot on the podium was Suzuki's Joan Mir finishing a distant 3.911s behind the race leader. Bagnaia started on pole position and held on to the lead with Marquez moving past Ducati's Jack Miller to slip into P2 from fourth on the grid. Meanwhile, Fabio Quartararo had a troubling start that saw a drop-down to P5. By Lap 6, Quartararo dropped behind Pramac rider Jorge Martin and Brad Binder of KTM. Quartararo soon found himself at P9 struggling to come back into the top order.

Meanwhile, Bagnaia was sure of putting his best foot forward with Marquez following closely, while Miller was placed third. It wasn't long for the top two riders to move away from the rest of the pack. Miller maintained P3 but soon found himself off track on Lap 11, which allowed Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro and the Joan Mir to power through. Mir then passed the Aprilia on Turn 4 securing a podium finish. With the race entering the last 10 laps, Bagnaia and Marquez continued to duel for the top spot. The Honda rider built quite the pressure but Bagnaia was relentless in his pursuit for his maiden premier-class win.

On the podium - Francesco Bagnaia, Marc Marquez and Joan Mir

Marquez came really close on Lap 21 to pass Bagnaia and had six more opportunities in the next two laps before the chequered flag was drawn out. But the Honda rider had to settle with a podium finish, while Bagnaia became the first Italian to win at Aragon since Casey Stoner in 2010.

Aleix Espargaro was the fourth fastest rider followed by Miller rounding the top five. Avintia rookie Enea Bastianini took a season-best P6 while Binder secured P7. Quartararo concluded the race at P8, 0.040s from Martin. LCR Honda's Takaaki Nakagami took the 10th spot ahead of Iker Lecuona.

Alex Rins on the Suzuki finished 12th after started in the last row on the grid. He managed to pip Honda's Pol Espargaro, while KTM's Miguel Oliveira and Tech 3's Danilo Petrucci secured the final points. Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow finished at P16, ahead of Johann Zarvo on the Pramac.

Meanwhile, Maverick Vinales made his debut on the Aprilia and finished 18th, ahead of Petronas SRT rider Valentino Rossi and Avintia's Luca Marini. Jake Dixon on the SRT bike crashed out on the second lap, while Alex Marquez was another DNF in the race crashing out on the first lap.