The competition was fierce and daring, but Motorland remains Marc Márquez’s territory. The seven-time world champion achieved his fourth victory of the season this Sunday and the coveted double at the Aragon GP, where he was able to fend off his rivals’ attacks in the early stages of the race to break away and finish unchallenged at the finish line. Pedro Acosta, one of the talents destined to succeed him as the star of the championship, tried to unsettle him without success, and Marco Bezzecchi did the same from pole position by attempting to escape at the front in the first laps. Ultimately, the ’93’ imposed his will with another dual display, first managing his tires and then unleashing his superior speed and better pace on a track where he has not lost in six races since joining Ducati in 2024.
The victory, with leader Jorge Martín finishing fifth and far behind throughout the weekend, places him 19 points from the top of the championship. No wonder he celebrated by pounding his chest with his fist fiercely and, more calmly, kneeling before his fan section at the corner named after him on the circuit. “The key point was the first corner, but I made a huge mistake by not disabling the rear device. I was very slow there, but then I tried to build a good rhythm and we had a magnificent battle with Marco and Pedro. My plan was to manage at the start and then push to escape from lap 10 onwards,” Márquez analyzed, able to recover from the scare at the start, in parc fermé.
As he himself admitted, the race was anything but easy for the defending champion. At the start, he repeated Saturday’s strategy, did not fail, and was able to overtake poleman Bezzecchi at the first corner. But the rear device on his Desmosedici GP – which lowers the bike’s height to maximize acceleration at the start and also on the circuit’s straights – remained activated and caused him to scrape the asphalt at turn 2, sparks included. His main title rivals took advantage of the scare, first ‘Bez’ recovering the lead like a cannonball and then Martín placing the other official Aprilia in between at the third lean of the day.
Unyielding, Márquez was quick to return the favor. At the chicane before the back straight, he cut inside the championship leader, who then crashed heavily, unable to match the pace of the best at Motorland throughout the weekend, finishing fifth, the same result as in Saturday’s sprint. On lap 6, the reigning champion made another unstoppable pass at the same spot, leaning to his preferred left side, to leave behind a Bezzecchi who did not back down later at 300 km/h on the thrilling descent to the corner before the finish line. In a last-ditch braking, with both title contenders nearly touching, Pedro Acosta took advantage of the Italian’s deceleration with a spectacular outside overtake.
The Murcian, again very commendable on a KTM clearly inferior to the Italian machines, was once more very close to taking his first elite victory, which still eludes him after three seasons among the best with 14 podiums. Acosta stuck to the tail of the Motorland owner, who did not allow him to get inside at any moment and, upon reaching the race’s midpoint, decided to pull away with two consecutive fastest laps, extending his lead to one second from lap 15 and finally leaving him nearly two seconds behind at the checkered flag.
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“I wanted to try. I’m happy because the team has worked very hard and, as I said in Silverstone, it seems we are on the right track. I hope to improve even more in Misano,” said the Spanish talent, who will share a garage with Márquez next year. Bezzecchi, despite his brilliant one-lap performance on Saturday to shatter the circuit record, finished more than three seconds behind the winner to close the podium, the three aces of the day far ahead of the rest, led by Alex Márquez who was fourth more than eight seconds behind his brother.
The World Championship, with 10 races in 14 weekends ahead and 333 points to distribute, remains very close. Martín leads with 256 points, but Marc Márquez is already lurking 19 points behind and his teammate Bezzecchi is also within striking distance at 24 points. The defending champion had started the event 40 points behind and was at one point more than 100 points behind the championship leader not long ago. In Aragon, he fulfilled his wishes despite physical discomfort in his injured right arm: achieving the double and taking advantage of his superiority on left-turn circuits to maximize his chances for an eighth MotoGP crown, the tenth in the world championship ladder.
With his victory, the great contemporary circuit dominator accumulates 37 wins out of 60 possible on tracks run counterclockwise, and in Alcañiz he has stood atop the podium in eight of 12 appearances in the premier class. Márquez, since turning 30, has accumulated 18 wins despite his injury ordeal, a figure that matches Valentino Rossi’s record, still far from the 33 once achieved by Australian Mick Doohan.
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| posrider |
|---|
1 |
| 2 |
3 |
| 4 |
| 5 |
| 6 |
| 7 |
| 8 |
9 |
10 |
| posrider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | DUCATI | 41:10.969 |
| 2 | KTM | +1.754 |
| 3 | APRILIA | +3.629 |
| 4 | DUCATI | +8.687 |
| 5 | APRILIA | +12.572 |
| 6 | DUCATI | +17.687 |
| 7 | DUCATI | +23.136 |
| 8 | KTM | +25.741 |
| 9 | HONDA | +25.899 |
| 10 | KTM | +26.441 |
| posrider |
|---|
| 1 |
| 2 |
| 3 |
| 4 |
| 5 |
| 6 |
| 7 |
| 8 |
| 9 |
| 10 |
| posrider | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | DUCATI | 37 |
| 2 | KTM | 26 |
| 3 | APRILIA | 23 |
| 4 | DUCATI | 22 |
| 5 | APRILIA | 16 |
| 6 | DUCATI | 14 |
| 7 | DUCATI | 9 |
| 8 | 8 | |
| 9 | HONDA | 10 |
| 10 | KTM | 6 |
| posrider |
|---|
| 1 |
| 2 |
| 3 |
| 4 |
5 |
| 6 |
| 7 |
| 8 |
| 9 |
| 10 |
| posrider | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | APRILIA | 256 |
| 2 | DUCATI | 237 |
| 3 | APRILIA | 232 |
| 4 | DUCATI | 208 |
| 5 | APRILIA | 203 |
| 6 | KTM | 189 |
| 7 | APRILIA | 186 |
| 8 | DUCATI | 143 |
| 9 | DUCATI | 128 |
| 10 | DUCATI | 90 |
| posteam |
|---|
| 1 APRILIA |
| 2 DUCATI |
| 3 KTM |
| 4 HONDA |
| 5 YAMAHA |
| posteam | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 APRILIA | APRILIA | 390 |
| 2 DUCATI | DUCATI | 375 |
| 3 KTM | KTM | 231 |
| 4 HONDA | HONDA | 129 |
| 5 YAMAHA | YAMAHA | 78 |
| posrider |
|---|
| 1 |
| 2 |
| 3 |
| 4 |
| 5 |
| 6 |
| 7 |
| 8 |
| 9 |
| 10 |
| posrider | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | APRILIA | 256 |
| 2 | DUCATI | 237 |
| 3 | APRILIA | 232 |
| 4 | DUCATI | 208 |
| 5 | APRILIA | 203 |
| 6 | KTM | 189 |
| 7 | APRILIA | 186 |
| 8 | DUCATI | 143 |
| 9 | DUCATI | 128 |
| 10 | DUCATI | 90 |
