Marco Bezzecchi capitalised on a rare Marc Marquez mistake to win the sprint race at the San Marino Grand Prix on Saturday, the Aprilia rider converting from pole as Marquez’s run of eight sprint race wins in succession ended with a crash.
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Bezzecchi won his first sprint race since the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix with the victory, which snapped Ducati’s run of 29 consecutive sprint wins that dated back to the Catalunya Grand Prix of May 2024 won by then-Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro.
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The Italian crossed the line exactly one second ahead of Ducati’s Alex Marquez, with fellow Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio finishing in third place for his third successive sprint podium.
“It was a fantastic Saturday,” Bezzecchi said.
“I’m very happy to grab the sprint win, I don’t even remember [when] was my last one. The race was not perfect because we had some issues during the race, but even having these problems I was able to have a good pace. I knew that Marc was on the limit.”
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From pole, Bezzecchi led in the early stages while being hunted by Marc Marquez, who made a superb start from an equal season-worst fourth on the grid to slot into second place at the first corner.
Marquez took the lead at Turn 6 on the sixth lap, but the 32-year-old fell at the penultimate corner on the same lap to end his run of 15 sprint podiums from 15 starts in 2025, 14 of those wins.
Bezzecchi was untroubled on his run to victory from there, extending his lead to over a second for the first time on the 12th of 13 laps to consolidate his fourth place in the world championship standings.
Australia’s Jack Miller finished 14th for Yamaha after starting from a season-worst 21st place, the Yamaha rider crashing twice across the three practice sessions but gaining four places on the first lap en route to finishing 16.727secs behind Bezzecchi.
The 27-lap San Marino Grand Prix, round 16 of the 22-round MotoGP season, will take place at 10pm on Sunday (AEST).
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