Marc Marquez continued his unbeaten streak in MotoGP Sprint races in 2025 as he took his sixth consecutive victory in Le Mans.
The Spanish rider was forced to battle polesitter Fabio Quartararo, but ultimately prevailed to win the race by 0.530s.
Marquez got the jump off the line, but the wide line from the Ducati meant that Quartararo was able to sweep under to regain the lead at Turn 2.
Francesco Bagnaia made a good start to the race and battled past Fermin Aldeguer to get into fourth and pressurise Alex Marquez.
Bagnaia lost the front into the Dunlop chicane on the second lap, which saw him crash out of the race for his first non-score of the year so far.
Aldeguer returned to fourth following Bagnaia’s crash and set the fastest lap of the race as he attempted to follow team-mate Marquez.
At the front, the elder Marquez was putting pressure on the leading Quartararo and drew alongside the Frenchman on the run to the first corner, but was unable to take the lead.
Marquez saw his opportunity to overtake Quartararo on Lap 6, but Quartararo was able to respond as the pair made their way through the chicane.
It was a few corners later at Garage Vert where Marquez made his move stick, as he took the lead for the first time since the opening corner of the race.
The younger Marquez also saw an opportunity to get past Quartararo, but ran wide and had to rethink his approach.
The Gresini rider then found his way through at Turn 2 a lap later, to continue the Marquez 1-2 streak in Sprint races in 2025.
Aldeguer had his sights on a maiden Sprint podium, with his Gresini Ducati having the pace to pass Quartararo in third.
The pair made contact as they duelled into La Chapelle corner, but the young Spaniard made his way through after an aggressive battle.
As the race drew to a conclusion, the KTM riders Pedro Acosta and Maverick Vinales commenced battle for fifth, with Acosta seeming to get the better of the satellite rider.
Marquez took the chequered flag to win his sixth consecutive Sprint by over half a second.
Gresini’s Marquez continued his silver streak in Sprints by confirming his second place at Le Mans.
Aldeguer earned his maiden podium in MotoGP as he took third over the line.
Quartararo finished the race in fourth, while Vinales stole fifth as Acosta crashed at the final corner.
Home favourite Johann Zarco was promoted to sixth ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio who recovered from a difficult qualifying in seventh.
Alex Rins finished a strong eighth for Yamaha while Joan Mir completed the points finishers in ninth.
Raul Fernandez completed a super Saturday to finish 10th ahead of Jack Miller in 11th.
Luca Marini took the flag in 12th with Enea Bastianini a tenth behind in 13th.
Ai Ogura crossed the line in 14th, prevailing over Franco Morbidelli, who had a bad start to the Sprint and ended the race in 15th.
Takaaki Nakagami was 16th in his first Sprint as a Honda wildcard, while Marco Bezzecchi was 17th after taking an excursion through the gravel trap.
Lorenzo Savadori was 18th, with Pedro Acosta remounting to finish 19th following his final corner crash.
Miguel Oliveira completed the finishers in 20th on his return to race action after injury.
Bagnaia was joined by Brad Binder as the non-finishers of the Sprint race.
