Marc Marquez wins at Misano and takes the MotoGP championship lead

Marc Marquez won the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano ahead of brother Alex Marquez, by just 0.657 seconds, with Pedro Acosta completing the podium, after early leader Marco Bezzecchi crashed out on the opening lap. With Jorge Martin finishing fifth, Marquez and Martin are now level on 274 points in the standings, though Marquez takes the top spot on countback, having won more races this season.

Before the race

Bezzecchi started from pole after setting a track record of 1:29.982 on Saturday, despite having already lost the Sprint to Marquez. In Sunday morning warm up, the Italian again topped the times, 0.376 seconds ahead of Marquez, capping a weekend in which the two had traded the fastest times in every session bar Q1. Aprilia and Gresini both ran special white liveries for the occasion, with Bezzecchi and Martin’s cars inspired by Gilles Villeneuve’s 1981 Monaco Grand Prix racesuit and Piaggio’s Vespa branding, while Gresini’s livery paid tribute to Marco Simoncelli’s 2010-2011 Honda San Carlo colours.

All riders started on medium tyres front and rear. Maverick Vinales was absent for a third straight race, replaced by Pol Espargaro at Tech3 KTM, while Ai Ogura missed a second consecutive weekend with a hand injury. Franco Morbidelli served a long lap penalty for impeding another rider during Friday practice, while Johann Zarco started three places down the grid for a similar offence in qualifying.

Bezzecchi crashes from the lead on lap one

Bezzecchi got away well at the start and took the lead ahead of Marquez and Martin, but his advantage barely lasted a lap. At turn 13, directly in front of the grandstand named after him, the Italian’s Aprilia slid out from under him, ending any hope of a home double following his win at Mugello for the Italian Grand Prix.

The opening lap also claimed Diogo Moreira, who crashed at turn 4. The two early falls completely reshaped a race that Marquez himself had tipped Bezzecchi to win beforehand.

Martin takes over, then Marquez strikes back

With Bezzecchi out, Marquez led the opening laps with a fluctuating margin over Martin, as Alex Marquez began closing in from behind on his Gresini machine. On lap seven, at turn 4, Martin passed Marquez to take the lead, helped by mounting pressure on the Ducati rider from behind.

The Aprilia rider’s advantage grew to as much as 0.7 seconds by lap nine, but Marquez answered with his fastest lap of the race and retook the lead at turn 6 on lap 12, a position he would not relinquish again.

A weekend to forget for Aprilia as Martin slips to fifth

Having lost the lead, Martin also made a mistake at turn 8 that pushed his deficit to Marquez beyond six tenths. From there his race unravelled quickly: Alex Marquez passed him at turn 6, then Pedro Acosta got by at turn 8, and finally Fermin Aldeguer came through at turn 6, dropping Martin to an eventual fifth place finish.

The fight for victory came down to the Marquez brothers in the closing stages, with Alex never more than a second behind Marc. The gap shrank to 0.5 seconds with six laps remaining, briefly reopening the contest before Marc Marquez managed the margin through to the chequered flag.

Bagnaia down, and three more retirements

A few laps after Bezzecchi’s crash, the home weekend got harder still for Francesco Bagnaia, who went down at turn 2 in what was his final home race before moving to Aprilia in 2027. Jack Miller, Joan Mir and Alex Rins all returned to the pits without crashing, with Mir’s retirement coming at the end of a weekend affected by a health issue he had already mentioned after Saturday’s Sprint. The final retirement of the day, a crash, belonged to Johann Zarco, who went down at turn 8 in one of the closing laps.

San Marino Grand Prix 2026 result