Alex Marquez ends Aprilia’s unbeaten run

Bezzecchi forced to settle for second in the Spanish GP as Marc Márquez’s title defence takes another big hit

Alex Márquez converted victory at Jerez with a measured 25-lap ride that ended Aprilia’s run of main-race wins, as well as Bezzecchi’s record-breaking run of race laps in the lead. The Italian was Alex’s closest challenger, finishing 1.903s back, while Fabio Di Giannantonio made it two Ducatis on the podium by taking a distant 3rd.

In the hottest conditions of the weekend, Marc Márquez launched well to arrive first into Turn 1, while Bezzecchi charged through from the second row past Zarco and Di Giannantonio, and Alex Márquez swept around the outside to grab third.

Marc Márquez led through the first sector but it was Alex who had shown superior pace throughout practice, and he wasted no time asserting his race-winning credentials, out-braking his brother with a picture-perfect move into Turn 6. Marc stayed right on the Gresini rider’s back wheel, but disaster struck just a few corners later when the reigning champion lost the front in the high-speed complex of right-hand corners, crashing out at over 200km/h. The factory Ducati star thankfully walked away unhurt, but his title defence took another hammer blow with his second consecutive main-race DNF.

With the pole-sitter gone after just one lap, Alex Márquez suddenly had some breathing space behind, which he duly used to lay down a relentless, bludgeoning rhythm that asked big questions of the riders behind. Bezzecchi tried hard to dig in, hovering close enough to keep the gap honest, and for a while it looked like the Aprilia rider could still turn it into a direct fight if Alex Márquez made even a small error. Di Giannantonio sat just behind that pair, close enough that Bezzecchi could not afford to focus solely on the leader, with Martín staying in touch in fourth.

Alex Márquez’s relentless pace began to tell, eking out a tenth here and a tenth there over Bezzecchi, who himself extended the gap behind to ‘Diggia’ to around a second. Behind them, the next group began to form, with Ai Ogura producing impressive pace to blow past the KTMs of Acosta, Bastianini, and Zarco’s Honda to give himself a realistic chance of hauling in his Trackhouse Aprilia team-mate Raúl Fernández in sixth. Bagnaia had climbed back up to 9th on lap 12 after a poor start but then suddenly dropped out of the race with a technical issue, compounding a horror day for the factory Ducati team.

As the laps wore on, Alex Márquez’s advantage grew to over 2 seconds, forcing Bezzecchi to balance his championship priorities in second place, given the now comfortable gap back to Di Giannantonio in 3rd. Jorge Martín was beginning to fade in 4th, and it was Ogura’s late speed that lit up the race. Having passed the gallant Zarco for 6th, he hauled in and summarily dispatched Fernández for 5th and was tantalisingly close to Martín.

In the end, Alex Márquez’s superiority was never challenged, backing up his 2025 victory at the venue with another dominant win as he once again celebrated in front of his home fans on the final lap. Bezzecchi and Di Giannantonio completed the podium, with Martín holding onto fourth over a rapidly closing Ogura, who crossed the line less than a second behind in 5th.

Fernández made it two Trackhouse Aprilias in the top six, Zarco brought Honda home seventh, followed by Enea Bastianini in eighth and Fermín Aldeguer ninth, with Pedro Acosta completing the top ten having lost aero attachments from his KTM after early race contact. Quartararo was in the points in 14th, while Jack Miller finished the race in 18th position as Yamaha’s 2026 struggles continued. He and the other M1 riders will be desperately hoping the Iwata factory can find something to improve their fortunes in the post-race test on Monday, but the reality is that Yamaha must now focus their development efforts on the new 850cc machine for 2027.

Aprilia and Bezzecchi’s main-race domination of 2026 has finally been interrupted, but it’s a hollow victory for Ducati in some ways as Bezzecchi has only strengthened his hold on the world championship on 101 points, 11 clear of team-mate Jorge Martín in second. Di Giannantonio’s podium lifts him to third in the standings on 71 points, with Acosta’s poor race dropping him to fourth, while Marc Márquez’s second DNF in as many races leaves him a yawning 44 points back in 5th position. Márquez may be a magician on a motorcycle but his slow shoulder recovery and lack of consistency this season leaves him needing to pull several rabbits from his hat to defend his title.

Alex Marquez – P1
“If there was a track where I could rediscover my feeling, it was Jerez. Magic happens here, and that’s exactly what happened. I felt good from Friday onwards, but I didn’t think I’d be this fast. We did a great job with the team, we worked hard, and to get two consecutive wins is absolutely incredible. I attacked right from the start, both Marco and Marc, and then I found a strong pace. These 25 points give us a lot of confidence and put us at least in the top seven of the overall standings. Now we’ll try to build on that, race by race.”

Marco Bezzecchi – P2
“This weekend I gave it my all, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to fight for the win. During the race I managed to improve and maintain a competitive pace. I’m satisfied anyway; the team did an excellent job, as always, and I thank them. Now let’s focus on the tests.” 

Fabio Di Giannantonio – P3
“I am really happy with the level we’re showing. I’m just a bit upset because I made a mistake at the start: the team did a great job during all the weekend and in these months, but this little mistake didn’t allow us to really fight. For sure, it’s a great podium and we must be very happy. We are also in the Top3 of the World Standing and it’s great. But we think we could have done more without that mistake. Of course, when you start to collect such great results, a third place is not enough, but it’s an amazing result, anyway. We’re doing a great job; we just must keep the focus on and the feet on the ground. The season is still very long, but let’s keep working like this.”

Jorge Martin – P4
“The start was very good. I tried to manage the tire, but from the first laps the feeling from the rear wasn’t the best: both in braking and acceleration, there was a lack of grip. In any case, I tried to give my best in this race. I can’t wait for the test day on Monday so I can continue making progress.” 

Jack Miller – P18
“It was one of those weekends for us. The race itself didn‘t feel too bad — I got a decent start, but I made a mistake in the last corner on the first lap where I carried too much closing speed. After that, I was starting to find a rhythm and make my way forward. “I had just passed Diogo and put in a couple of strong laps, but then I lost the rear brake. That obviously made things difficult, especially in the heavy braking zones, and Diogo was able to come back past me. In the faster, flowing corners I actually felt quite good, but overall it limited what I could do. “Tomorrow we resume work and will be trying different new things that hopefully can be a new step in the right direction.“

Marc Márquez – DNF
“I’m fine physically. We enjoyed this Grand Prix of Spain from Thursday to Sunday, so it’s a pity that the race ended so early. I did something different at turn eleven, which caused the crash. I was trying to manage the situation, as I knew Alex (Márquez) was quicker, and the goal was to finish in third or fourth place. We struggled in terms of feeling and pace in the first three races, while this has been our strongest weekend so far this season. We were competitive in the wet, but there’s still work to do in dry conditions, and we’ll start addressing that already tomorrow.”

ROUND 4 SPANISH MOTOGP RACE

2026 MOTOGP CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 4