Marc Marquez bounced back from his first MotoGP Sprint race retirement of the season to win the Grand Prix at Misano.
The Spaniard battled with Aprilia Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi throughout the race, as the pair diced for the win along the Adriatic coast.
Bezzecchi started on pole, but a small error on Lap 13 prompted Marquez into the lead, a move that eventually decided the result.
Both Bezzecchi and Marquez showed impressive pace, but the championship leader edged out a win by just half a second.
“The last laps are when I put everything, all my cards on the table. But the reply from Marco was amazing!” Marquez said post-race to Crash.net.
“I was coming with a fast lap – because I saw the lap time on my dashboard – but then I passed on the main straight and he was still only 0.5-0.4s behind.”
“Marco was a super tough opponent and congrats to him because even being faster than ever in the last laps, he replied in a very good way.
“But today I had a special fire inside of me. After yesterday’s mistake – always I try to reply in the best way possible. And the best reply was to win the race.”
In Marquez’s debut season for the Rossa, he’s now won both at its home races in Mugello and Misano.
Marquez: ‘Nobody is perfect’ after Misano Sprint race crash
After qualifying fourth and starting on the second row, the factory Ducati rider’s Saturday ended abruptly in the gravel traps.
He made an aggressive start and followed Bezzecchi in second during the early phases, before overtaking on Lap 6.
However, Marquez explained that it was a “typical” Misano crash where he lost the front at Turn 15 shortly after taking the lead.
“I forced too much, I went a bit wide on that turn 15, and a typical crash of Misano,” Marquez said.
“Nobody is perfect. It’s a part of racing.
“In the end, I take a lot of risks during the Sprints this season and it’s been a success every time. Since Austria last year I was not doing any mistakes in the Sprints.
“It can happen, and today was the day; I did the most difficult thing that was to lead the race, but maybe I didn’t take care about that the tyre temperature was [still too hot], because just a few corners ago I overtook Bezzecchi.”
READ MORE – Marc Marquez defeats Marco Bezzecchi in Misano to edge closer to MotoGP title
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