MotoGP German GP: Marc Marquez snatches sprint glory from Marco Bezzecchi
It was Marc's 10th sprint win out of a possible 11 in 2025, having missed out only at the British Grand Prix in May.
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While Marquez stretched his championship lead over brother Alex (riding with a hand injury) with yet another sprint victory, his team-mate Francesco Bagnaia could not add to his tally after finishing a lowly 12th.
Factory Ducati rider Marquez made an outstanding start from pole position, only to throw it all away by braking too late for the first corner. That put him back to fifth place – but the mistake served only to set the stage for a perfectly timed recovery ride.
Racing on a wet but drying circuit on which leaving the tried-and-trusted line was particularly perilous, not even Marquez was able to shoot back from the early mistake in his usual fast and emphatic fashion. The Spaniard needed every one of the 15 laps to fight his way past first Johann Zarco (LCR Honda), then Fabio di Giannantonio's VR46 Ducati and the Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo, before finally getting a good look at Bezzecchi's Aprilia on the last tour.
Marquez made his move under braking for Turn 1. Although he struggled to get the bike stopped, giving Bezzecchi hope that the move would not stick, he managed to get it back onto the racing line in time for Turn 2. From there, it was game over as the Sachsenring maestro built up a small lead that would see him through the rest of the lap.
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While it was heartache for the resurgent Bezzecchi in Germany, this was his third consecutive top-three finish following his pair of third places last time out in the Netherlands.
Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing
Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing
Quartararo also managed his afternoon well to see off a late threat from di Giannantonio, who had to make do with fourth place.
Di Giannantonio's VR46 Ducati team-mate Franco Morbidelli ran second behind Bezzecchi for the first two laps of the race before crashing out in frightening fashion at Turn 8 on lap three.
Damp-weather fan Jack Miller came through to finish fifth for Pramac Yamaha, with Brad Binder scoring an encouraging sixth for KTM.
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Zarco dropped back down the field following his decision to run the same medium rear compound that had earned him a front-row grid spot earlier in the day. The pace came to him too late in the race, bringing about a mild recovery to seventh place.
Injured Alex Marquez stayed out of trouble to finish eighth ahead of Pedro Acosta, who recovered to snatch the last point after running off the road when placed fourth midway through the race.
Alex's two points mean that he achieved his goal of stretching his advantage over Bagnaia in the points race, in which he lies second. After failing to score thanks to his humiliating 12th place, Bagnaia is now 60 points behind Alex in third.
Marc, meanwhile, continues his serene progress at the top of the table, and will head into Sunday 78 points clear of his brother.
MotoGP German GP - Sprint results
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