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Marco Bezzecchi won the MotoGP Sprint race at the Dutch TT at Assen after dominating practice and qualifying to mark himself out as the man to beat.
The Italian rider, third in the championship standings, has been unstoppable so far at the eighth round of the series, which is the final event before the summer break.
Bezzecchi came through from third place on the opening lap to take control, pulling clear on the VR46 Ducati after hitting the front and managing his pace.
The two-time MotoGP winner wrapped up a convincing maiden Sprint victory from championship leader Francesco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati), while Frenchman Fabio Quartararo was promoted to third in a dramatic finish after Red Bull KTM’s Brad Binder received a three-second Long Lap equivalent penalty for exceeding the track limits.
On a miserable day for battle-scarred Marc Marquez, the Repsol Honda rider was only 17th on the factory RCV.
Bagnaia grabbed the lead into the first right-hander ahead of Bezzecchi, with Binder charging through from the second row and snatching second through the first corners.
Quartararo made a strong start and was into fourth from Marini, while Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin was quickly up to sixth after starting from 10th on the grid after sliding off in qualifying and switching to his spare machine.
Bezzecchi made his move on Binder for second place on lap two and began chasing after Bagnaia, who had a small gap of half-a-second.
However, Bezzecchi soon slashed the deficit with the fastest lap in the race to close onto the rear wheel of the factory Ducati.
On lap four, Bezzecchi and Bagnaia traded places at the front before the VR46 rider edged ahead on the straight.
Pole man Bezzecchi wasted no time in opening an advantage and was already four tenths clear by the end of the lap, while Binder was still lying in third ahead of Quartararo.
Bezzecchi lived up to his billing as the pre-race favourite, extending his lead over Bagnaia to one second with five laps remaining.
Binder was defending third from a resurgent Quartararo, while Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro was gaining ground, passing Martin into the final chicane at the end of lap seven to go fifth.
At the front, Bagnaia was beginning to eat into Bezzecchi’s lead, closing the gap by 0.3s by lap 11.
Behind them, third place was up for grabs with Binder fighting to hold off Quartararo and Espargaro.
But as the race entered the final two laps, Bezzecchi was able to up his pace and increased his lead again to seven tenths as he closed in on victory.
At the start of the last lap, Bezzecchi was 1.1s ahead of Bagnaia and he wrapped up the win by 1.3s, cutting the gap to Bagnaia at the top of the standings.
Binder, third for so long, upped the ante to consolidate third ahead of Quartararo and Espargaro. He crossed the line ahead but the KTM rider was hit with a three-second Long Lap equivalent penalty, promoting Quartararo to the podium in a dramatic finish to the race.
Espargaro finished fourth with Binder confirmed in fifth ahead of Martin and Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing).
Marini dropped from eighth to 10th after he also received a penalty of 0.5s for exceeding the track limits.
Enea Bastianini (Lenovo Ducati) and Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez were eighth and ninth respectively.
Jack Miller was 11th on the second of the Red Bull KTM machines, while LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami was the top Honda rider in 12th.
Johanna Zarco was down in 13th on the Pramac Ducati while Quartararo’s factory Yamaha team-mate, Franco Morbidelli, was 15th.
