Dovizioso wins but Lorenzo crashes at Misano

Andrea Dovizioso has picked up a third win of the MotoGP season in Misano but Jorge Lorenzo cost the Ducati Team a one-two with a penultimate lap crash.

Lorenzo looked to have seen off Marc Marquez in the race for second before he went down, while Jack Miller was not a factor from second on the grid due to an early spill on his Pramac Ducati.

Championship leader Marquez was instead handed another four points while Cal Crutchlow assumed the final podium position on his LCR Honda.

Lorenzo led the field away from pole position as Marquez braked late at the first corner to slot into third, behind Miller, from a start of fifth.

Dovizioso, however, was keen to go with his team-mate and picked off both Marquez and Miller before the end of Lap 1.

Marquez jammed his Repsol Honda down the inside of Miller at Turn 14 on Lap 2, forcing #43 to pick his bike up, before the Australian went down at the same corner a lap later.

Dovizioso tailed Lorenzo until he slipped past #99 at Turn 7 on Lap 6 and put a second on the Spaniard in the next five laps.

By then, Marquez was pressuring his future team-mate and took over second position when Lorenzo ran slightly wide at the Turn 14 hairpin on Lap 14.

Lorenzo twice repassed Marquez but each time couldn’t stick the move until he went charging through at the fast Turn 12 on Lap 19.

Meanwhile, Dovizioso was as much as 2.325s to the good at the end of Lap 21, only for Lorenzo and Marquez to begin to catch him.

With a handful of laps remaining, however, it became apparent that the Italian was in fact managing the margin as he went on to a comfortable win and gave Ducati a sweep of the two races on Italian soil in 2018.

Even then, when Lorenzo looked fairly secure in second position and had nothing else to gain, he lost the front end of his Ducati at Turn 8 on Lap 26.

Marquez ultimately finished second by 2.822s and stretched his championship lead to 67 points, with Dovizioso displacing Valentino Rossi from second position in the standings.

“Not like this no,” said Dovizioso when asked if he would win in such fashion.

“I’m really happy because I did everything perfect and that was the only way to win today because Jorge was very strong and to beat Marc was very difficult.

“I’m so happy also because I never win in Misano and it’s something I really wanted.”

Crutchlow took third having overtaken Alex Rins on Lap 9 when the Suzuki Ecstar rider had to start conserving his soft compound tyres.

Rins nevertheless did enough to pick up fourth position ahead of Movistar Yamaha’s Maverick Viñales, who started from the front row but had a now typically sluggish opening to the race.

Rounding out the top 10 were Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), Rossi (Movistar Yamaha), Andrea Iannone (Suzuki Ecstar), Alvaro Bautista (Nieto Ducati), and Johann Zarco (Tech3 Yamaha).

Lorenzo remounted but finished outside the points in 17th, a position ahead of Miller.

Stefan Bradl (HRC Honda) and Xavier Simeon (Avintia Ducati) failed to finish due to crashes while Pole Espargaro (Red Bull KTM) was also a retirement.

The next round is the Aragon MotoGP on September 21-23.

Race results: San Marino MotoGP

Championship points