Bagnaia holds off Marquez for sensational maiden MotoGP win

Francesco Bagnaia has taken a first ever MotoGP win after bettering eight-time world champion Marc Marquez on the final lap.

Bagnaia made a brilliant start as he led into turn one, however, Marc Marquez made an even better one to move up from fourth to second. 

Marquez had an early look at taking the lead into turn five, but Bagnaia resisted the Spaniard’s challenge. 

Fabio Quartararo got a poor start aboard his M1 Yamaha and slipped from third to seventh before being passed by Iker Lecuona on lap eight. 

At the front, Bagnaia continued to lead from Marquez and team-mate Jack Miller, while Aleix Espargaro remained close in P4. 

Bagnaia and Marquez slowly started to inch away from the group behind - led by Miller. 

Further back, Quartararo’s struggles continued as Binder and Enea Bastianini managed to get ahead in back-to-back laps. 

Quartararo responded in the final corner to sweep back underneath the Italian,  

With 14 laps to go, the gap from leaders Bagnaia and Marquez significantly increased over Miller back in third - instead the Australian came under pressure from both Espargaro and Joan Mir.

On the next lap, Miller had a big moment in turn 16 which allowed both the Aprilia and Suzuki riders through. Third then changed hands again as Mir got ahead of Espargaro. 

With eight laps left, Marquez began to edge closer to Bagnaia, while Binder got ahead of Lecuona for seventh. 

That started a bad couple of laps for Lecuona as he ran wide at turn seven - allowing Quartararo, Bastianini and Nakagami through. 

As the race headed into the final five laps, Marquez began to show his pace by reeling in Bagnaia during sectors one and two. 

Marquez's first attempt at the lead came with three laps to go at turn five, however, Bagnaia executed a lovely switch-back to regain first place. 

The same move came later on in the lap, but Bagnaia did the same manoeuvre once again. 

Marquez tried twice again on the penultimate lap, but Bagnaia managed to use the cut-back to his advantage once more.

As expected on the final lap, another two moves for the win came from Marquez, but Bagnaia was not to be denied as he responded immediately. Marquez eventually claimed second and Mir third. 

Alex Marquez crashed on the opening lap which makes it four for the weekend. Jake Dixon also retired one lap later after suffering a crash himself.