Jorge Martín finishes second
MADRID, 14 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Italian rider Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati) has claimed victory this Sunday at the French Grand Prix, the fifth round of the Motorcycle World Championship, and has led the Ducati triplet on the podium with the Spanish Jorge Martín and the Frenchman Johann Zarco, while Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) crashed two laps from the end when he was riding in podium positions.
With his second victory of the year, in the 1,000th Grand Prix in the history of the World Championship, Bezzecchi puts pressure on his compatriot Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), who suffered a crash after colliding with Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) on the fifth lap at Le Mans.
Despite his ‘zero’, ‘Pecco’ continues to lead the overall with 94 points, although now he only has one on Bezzecchi (93), which displaces the South African Brad Binder (KTM) -sixth this Sunday- from the second place. Jorge Martín, for his part, is now fourth (80), 14 units behind the leader.
In a bumpy race in which only 13 riders managed to finish, Márquez took the lead after overtaking polesitter Bagnaia, with Australian Jack Miller (KTM) at his wheel, while behind him the positions began to change rapidly. The ocean rider overtook Cervera’s in the second lap and began to shoot alongside him.
The fall of Bagnaia and Viñales just two laps later, which ended with both riders fighting in the gravel, cleared the outlook for the big contenders to wrest the lead from the Italian, and soon after were Álex Márquez (Ducati) and Luca Marini (Ducati ) those who were left out of the race, just like Joan Mir (Repsol Honda) later.
Bezzecchi, meanwhile, joined the fight of Miller and Márquez, and managed to pass them with 17 laps to go. From behind, Martín surpassed Miller and went after Márquez, starting a battle that ended with the fall of the man from Ilerdense when the man from Madrid had already passed him.
There were only two laps to go, and no one could prevent Bezzecchi from seeing the checkered flag first, giving Ducati victory in the top category on the French track for the fourth consecutive year.
Among the 13 riders who managed to finish the race, Augusto Fernández (KTM) finished fourth, just ahead of Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia).