He Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), holder of the MotoGP, showed his credentials this Sunday with a victory in the Grand Prix of Portugalfirst date of the season of the highest category of world motorcycling.
The 26-year-old from Turin closed a perfect weekend at the Algarve circuit, where on Saturday he won the Sprint Racethe new type of competition introduced this year with points for the World Championship of Drivers.
Bagnaia crossed the finish line in first place, escorted by the Spanish Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) and his compatriot Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati-VR46).
The Catalan Marc Márquez (Honda), six-time MotoGP champion, was unable to enforce the pole position achieved the day before due to his abandonment after an accident. In the second round, when he was in fourth place, Márquez wanted to overtake in turn 3, lost control of his motorcycle due to a collision with his compatriot Jorge Martin (Ducati) and then collided with the Portuguese Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia). Both were out of competition and the local runner was also transferred to a medical center for control after being removed on a stretcher.
Frenchman Johann Zarco (Ducati) finished fourth after climbing three positions in the last lap. The Spanish Alex Márquez (Ducati), the South African Brad Binder (KTM), the Australian Jack Miller (KTM), the French Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), 2021 world champion, the Spanish Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) and his compatriot Alex Rins ( Honda) completed the top ten of the test.
Bagnaia was in first place in the Driver’s Championship with 37 points and an advantage of 12 over his guard Viñales.