Pecco Bagnaia broke Ducati's curse in the Netherlands with a flag-to-flag victory in a very eventful race that was marked by the double crash of the World Championship leader, Frenchman Fabio Quartararo.
The Yamaha benchmark spoiled his and Aleix Espargaró's race with an impossible overtaking attempt on lap four that sent them both to the gravel.
The rider from Granollers, the Frenchman's main pursuer in the fight for the title, managed to keep his bike upright in the face of the world champion's hasty movement, who was sanctioned with a
long lap
for the maneuver after the race.
After the race, the two hugged each other to forgive the mistake on the track.
Espargaró, who was cutting Bagnania's time before the incident, fired up and pulled like a man possessed in Assen to come back in 22 laps from 14th to fourth place, with a masterful double overtake on Binder and Miller in the mythical last chicane of the track .
In the race of his life, the Aprilia candidate took advantage of the withdrawal of Quartararo, who wanted to leave with the destroyed bike, but insisted due to the threat of rain and the encouragement of his team.
After stopping in the
box
intending to let it go on lap ten, he went back out on track after a brief discussion with his technical chief and then got the worst of it.
The Frenchman was already cold and repeated the crash at turn five, this time with more violence after a tail kick from his motorcycle, which made him jump into the air with the misfortune of hitting the asphalt head first.
“Today things have not gone well.
I want to apologize to Aleix and Aprilia, we have not done it on purpose”, commented the championship leader to the Dazn microphones.
With some pain in his head, the Frenchman wanted to play down the matter by talking about enjoying the holidays, which he arrives with a 21-point advantage over Espargaró.
The incident between the two main candidates for the title was sanctioned by the stewards and El Diablo will have to take a long lap – a sanction that consists of deviating from the usual layout in an area delimited for it that varies in each circuit and that entails the loss of about two seconds on a normal lap approximately – at the British GP (August 7) after the summer break.
The drama between the main candidates for the title left in the background the magnificent performance of Marco Bezzecchi, classified second to achieve his first podium in the premier class in his debut season.
Third was Maverick Viñales, finally competitive on a Sunday with the Aprilia, and also embraced by Espargaró, who encouraged him to join the Italian brand's project.
Since 2011, Yamaha and Honda had alternately divided the victories in Assen, but the bad timing of the golden wing factory left them without options before the start of the race.
Takaaki Nakagami, the first Honda on the grid, started 12th –the brand's worst result at La Catedral del motorciclismo since 1982– and finished in the same place.
Ducati chained 17 races in a row on the podium and managed to win in the Netherlands for the first time since 2008, when Casey Stoner gave them their only victory in the Netherlands to date.
Bagnaia, off the hook in the World Championship due to his four zeros this year, once again showed his potential on the bike and the power of the Borgo Panigale brand with his third victory of the year, the same as Quartararo and Bastianini.
In a beautiful race in which the sky threatened with a few drops, the Suzukis of Álex Rins and Joan Mir fell to 15th and 16th position on the opening lap, forcing them to sweat to climb back to 10th and 8th place.
Álex Márquez finished 15th the day his signing for Ducati Gresini for 2023 was announced, while Raúl Fernández (KTM) withdrew with physical discomfort.
Augusto Fernández smiles before the holidays
Augusto Fernández won his second consecutive race at Assen and moved up to second in the championship table tied on points with Italian Celestino Vietti.
The rider from Madrid beat Ai Ogura in the Netherlands, third in the competition, just one point behind his two rivals.
Jake Dixon was third after battling with his teammate Albert Arenas, who was aiming for her first podium in the intermediate category, but fell on the penultimate lap.
In Moto3, Izan Guevara continued to cut points from his teammate Sergio García Dols in the fight for the World Championship.
The Spaniard, who is three points behind the leader, was second ahead of the Valencian driver.
The Japanese Ayumu Sasaki won a fast-paced race with a firecracker finish in which the very young David Muñoz fell, dragging Jaume Masià and John McPhee with him after a hasty move.
The Italian Dennis Foggia, the main pursuer of the Spanish in the championship, fell when he was fighting in the leading group.
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