There was drama at the first turn when Daniel Holgado ploughed into Joe Roberts at the uphill Turn 1 hairpin. However, there was worse to come.

Before the first lap could be completed, the red flag was drawn for an enormous multi-rider pile-up at the Turn 11 hairpin.

Among the riders involved were Sergio Garcia, David Alonso, Daniel Munoz, Colin Veijer, Filip Salac, Alberto Ferrandez, and Angel Piqueras.

The colossal crash began when Ferrandez failed to slow and piled into the side of Salac and bowled several more riders.

Piqueras and Ferrandez were taken to the on-site medical centre following the incident.

The race was reduced to a 10-lap affair and eventually restarted. Barry Baltus began from pole position, but was given a long-lap penalty for riding in the wrong direction under the red flag.

All riders conscious and #Moto2 race to be restarted 😮‍💨#MotoGP | #USGP | Live on TNT Sports and HBO Max pic.twitter.com/irYsLfX9rA

— TNT Sports Bikes (@bikesontnt) March 29, 2026

The chaos continued even before the race resumed when Deniz Oncu fell on the sighting lap.

When the race finally restarted, Agius got to fourth with a pass on Izan Guevara off the line. That became third when Celestino Vietti went too deep into Turn 12.

Third became second when Agius passed Alonso Lopez on Lap 2.

Agius need not wait for Baltus to serve his penalty. On Lap 3, the Australian blazed by the Belgian rider on the longest straight.

Agius looked to have control of the race until three laps to go when a hard-charging Vietti took the lead away between Turn 12 and 13.

The pair continued to jockey for the lead, and coming out of Turn 2 with two laps to go Vietti surrendered the lead when he went wide.

That proved to be the race-defining pass. Agius clinched victory by half a second over Vietti while Guevara was another four tenths back in third.

Speaking post-race, Agius paid tribute to mechanic Roberto Lunadei who was tragically killed in a road accident.

“This is very special,” said Agius of the win.

“It’s not been an easy week for me, including the team and everyone involved in our effort.

“Intact GP, we lost a key member but also a very, very, very nice person and it broke my heart, the news before Brazil.

“A tough weekend to cap it off, but that one was on me.

“Thanks to this group of guys I’ve got here now because we regrouped this week, we started this weekend off strong, positive, and this is what we can achieve.”

Moto2 returns on April 24-26 with the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez.

Results: FIM Moto2 World Championship, Circuit of the Americas