Italian MotoGP: Francesco Bagnaia untouchable as he dominates for Mugello win
Francesco Bagnaia completes the perfect weekend as he dominates the Italian MotoGP at Mugello for the third season in a row.
Eager to build on his sprint win, Francesco Bagnaia put his three-place grid penalty behind him as he went from fifth to first in the space of two corners.
Enea Bastianini also made a strong start as he got through on Marc Marquez at the start to slot into a podium spot.
On lap three Marquez went for it at turn one but the eight-time world champion failed to get his Ducati stopped, allowing Bastianini to regain third place.
Then it was the turn of Pedro Acosta to make a mistake as he ran wide at the final corner while following Marquez.
As Bagnaia continued to edge away from Martin, Augusto Fernandez retired from the race as he headed down pit lane before showing anger towards his GASGAS team.
Joan Mir became the first faller as he lost the front-end of his Honda at turn one [lap seven].
On the same lap Martin began to lose more time to Bagnaia, as Bastianini and Marquez instead closed in on the championship leader.
Honda’s day got even worse on lap 10 when Takaaki Nakagami crashed at turn 12.
At the front, Bagnaia’s lead was beginning to come under threat as Martin found more pace than the riders around him.
The lead at the start of lap 13 was under half a second, while Marquez began to catch Bastianini once again for P3.
Bagnaia then responded on lap 13 as he gained four tenths over the Pramac rider, taking his advantage back to over eight tenths.
With six laps to go we finally saw a change inside the top four as Marquez made his second attempt at taking third away from Bastianini at turn one.
Bagnaia, who led Martin by five tenths with five laps remaining, was setting a pace too hot to lose any further ground, which was also true for Martin against Marquez.
Despite losing third, Bastianini put it to the back of his mind immediately as he charge back through on Marquez heading into the final lap.
Easily the fastest rider on track, Bastianini then shocked Martin by catching and passing the Pramac rider at the final corner of the last lap.
