Spaniard Marc Marquez won the Dutch Grand Prix, 10th round of the season, on Sunday at Assen where he consolidated his status as leader of the MotoGP world championship.
The Ducati rider won ahead of the Italians Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) while his brother Alex Marquez, 2nd in the championship, was forced to retire after a fall on the 5th of the 23 laps of the circuit.
Starting from pole position, Frenchman Fabio Quartararo quickly abandoned any chance of a podium to finish 10th, two places ahead of his compatriot Johann Zarco, 12th.
This success for Marquez, the 68th of his career in MotoGP and the 94th in total, allows him to equal the legend Giacomo Agostini in the number of victories in the premier category.
Above all, it allows the Catalan to drive the point home in the championship. At a mid-season Grand Prix on July 13 in Germany, Marc Marquez now has a 68-point lead over his runner-up, Alex Marquez, who will be reduced in ten days at the Sachsenring after fracturing the metacarpus of his left hand on Sunday during his fall after contact with Pedro Acosta.
Already winner of the sprint race on Saturday, the six-time world champion “did not expect to experience such a beautiful weekend” in front of the 109,000 spectators present on Sunday.
“This TT is not my favorite circuit. I had only won twice here in the past,” commented Marquez, “happy with the 37 points taken” at the Cathedral of Speed which celebrated the hundredth anniversary of a premier category race in Assen on Sunday.
“37 + 1”, then corrected the Spanish driver, showing the stitch on his chin, the result of one of his two falls on Friday during testing. A weekend which started badly, only to end in apotheosis.
