Marc Marquez seizes championship lead at Misano

Number 93 capitalised on a first-lap Bezzecchi blunder to storm to victory at the Italian’s home round, while it was heartbreak for Senna Agius in Moto2

The reigning World Champion cashed in when Marco Bezzecchi threw away the lead on the opening lap of the Red Bull Grand Prix of San Marino and the Rimini Riviera, then did the rest himself to rack up MotoGP win number 78. Written off after the Italian Grand Prix, the #93 has suddenly flipped the whole title fight on its head.

Bezzecchi looked in control early, fending off Marc Marquez at Turn 1 and keeping his nose in front through the first part of the lap. Then came the killer moment. At Turn 13, the home hero and race leader hit the deck on Lap 1. Bezzecchi was OK, but it was another brutal early crash and a savage blow to his 2026 championship hopes.

With Bezzecchi out, Marquez inherited the lead from Jorge Martin, and the title pressure was instantly on. By Lap 5, just 0.4s split them. Behind them, Alex Marquez and Pedro Acosta were going at it hard, with Alex eventually muscling through before locking onto the leaders.

Then Martin struck. On Lap 7, he dived underneath Marc Marquez at Turn 4 and pinched the lead, giving Aprilia something to cheer about. But the move didn’t rattle Marquez for long.

The response came quickly and it came hard. After banging in a couple of personal best laps, Marquez hit back at Turn 6 on Lap 12 to reclaim first place. Once he was back in front, he started to turn the screw.

Martin’s race then started to unravel. Alex Marquez shoved through at Turn 6 on Lap 14, dumping the former leader to third. Two laps later, Acosta barged into the podium places at Turn 8 and Martin was suddenly off the rostrum altogether. Then came another Ducati blow, with Fermin Aldeguer firing it up the inside at Turn 6 as Martin slipped further backwards. At that point, Marquez and Martin were level on points in the title race.

There was still no cruising for Marquez. Alex Marquez, who had launched from ninth on the grid, kept coming and slashed the gap to 0.5s with five laps left. Acosta was not far away either and was the fastest of the front three late in the race, but nobody could land the final punch.

Marc Marquez held firm, kept his cool and blasted to a massive Misano win, his 78th in MotoGP, to become the championship leader for the first time this season. From down and out after the Italian Grand Prix to top dog again, it’s been a stunning turnaround.

Alex Marquez delivered a beauty for BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP at its home round, charging to second while running a Marco Simoncelli tribute livery. Acosta was brilliant again for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing in third, backing up his Aragon podium with another huge result and his fifth top-three finish of the campaign.

Fermin Aldeguer came home fourth in an impressive ride after his own injury troubles this season. Martin had to settle for fifth, and while that does not look disastrous on the results sheet, it felt like a heavy one in the title fight. Raul Fernandez finished sixth, Fabio Di Giannantonio fought back to seventh after a rough opening lap, while Enea Bastianini, Luca Marini and Fabio Quartararo completed the top 10.

Brad Binder was 11th, Toprak Razgatlioglu grabbed 12th for Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP, Franco Morbidelli was 13th and Pol Espargaro 14th. Razgatlioglu’s ride from the back of the grid to the points was one of the grittier efforts of the day.

It was a rougher story in the other Pramac Yamaha garage. Jack Miller showed better signs in Sunday warm-up, with the team finding a more promising setup direction and Top 10 lap times, but his race was over almost before it began. Miller crashed on lap two and was forced to retire, a bitter end after some encouraging progress.

The home fans copped another sting when Francesco Bagnaia also ended up in the gravel. Like Bezzecchi, his San Marino Grand Prix finished early in another ugly Sunday for the locals.

Heading into Austria, the title fight could hardly be tighter. Marquez and Martin are dead level on 274 points, with Bezzecchi 33 points back in third. But aside from a slight Silverstone speed hump, Marc Marquez’s championship momentum looks hugely formidable.

Marc Márquez – 1st
“We had a good race and I’m happy, especially since Misano is the home race for Ducati, but it was a tough one. When you race with this kind of pace, it’s easy to make a mistake. This is the reason why, when I saw Bezzecchi’s crash, I planned the race in a different way and maybe I relaxed a bit too much. Little by little, I went back to my best pace and recovered the feeling I had yesterday. In the second part of the race, I tried to manage my lead and when Alex got closer, I started to push again. At this track, if you aren’t a lot faster than the rider ahead, it is hard to overtake.”

Pedro Acosta – 3rd
“It’s clear the motivation doesn’t go away! I’m happy! The pace was good, the bike was working quite good but we are still missing a bit in the fast sectors. Anyway, we have to be happy and the boys really deserve it.”

Jack Miller – DNF
“Not a particularly long day for me! I got away to a decent start and made a few good moves on the first lap. I felt like I had good pace and wanted to make up as many positions as possible early, because once everyone gets into single file it becomes very difficult for us to overtake around here. I was fighting with Johann and Fabio, we were all braking very late and I was just a little wider and pushing a bit harder when the front gave up. I picked the bike up quite quickly, but I had a TC error after going through the gravel and, once I turned the bike off to try to clear it, the clutch was slipping and the bike wouldn’t restart. But the damage was already done with the crash. It was obviously not the way we wanted to finish the weekend. It was a very difficult weekend, but we never stopped trying. We changed a lot with the setup, including the headstock angle last night, and made another step from Warm Up to the race. I went a little longer with the bike and a little softer, and honestly I felt that was the best bike I had ridden all weekend. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to do much with it. Now I’m looking forward to getting to Austria and hopefully having a more normal weekend. This track was quite peculiar in the way the bike was behaving, so hopefully we can go back to the base setting we’ve been using over the last four or five Grands Prix, which is a bike I’ve become really comfortable with.”

2026 MotoGP standings after round 14

MOTO2 HEARTBREAK FOR SENNA AGIUS

Senna Agius’ Misano weekend ended in devastating fashion, with the polesitter taken out at Turn 1 in a race that could prove pivotal in the 2026 Moto2 title chase.

In glorious late-summer conditions on the Adriatic coast, Agius had looked perfectly placed to launch another strong result for Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP after earning pole position, while teammate and championship leader Manuel Gonzalez lined up from P5. But the promise of Agius’ race lasted only a matter of seconds.

As the field charged into the opening corner, Agius was collected in a three-rider accident involving Daniel Holgado and Angel Piqueras. Piqueras braked too late on the inside, clipping Holgado and sending both riders down, with Agius left with nowhere to go. All three were out on the spot, although fortunately none were injured.

While Agius was left to wonder what might have been, Gonzalez escaped the chaos and quickly went to work at the front. After shadowing early leader Collin Veijer across the opening laps, Gonzalez struck at Turn 8 on lap five and controlled the race from there, despite a track limits warning late in the contest.

Gonzalez went on to claim his first win since Hungary, beating Veijer by 2.4 seconds, with Barry Baltus completing the podium despite serving a Long Lap penalty. Ivan Ortola was fourth, while Tony Arbolino charged from P16 to P5. Izan Guevara recovered from a six-place grid penalty to finish sixth, but still surrendered crucial ground in the championship fight.

The result was a bitter blow for Agius, who not only lost the chance to score heavily from pole, but also dropped to fourth in the standings. Gonzalez’s win stretched his advantage over Guevara from 32.5 points to 47.5, while Agius now sits 83.5 points adrift of his teammate after a cruel slice of bad luck at Misano.

Senna Agius – DNF
“The positives of this weekend outweighs what happened today because there’s no time to be angry and upset about what happened. I will take this mindset to FP1 in Austria and continue the way we left here. That’s my mentality for the rest of the season and we will do our best at all times to recovery back as many points as we can.”

Kelso delivers strong top 7 result

Joel Kelso came away from Misano with a solid seventh-place finish after another hard-fought Moto3 contest, staying firmly in the mix throughout a race decided only in the final metres.

Kelso and GRYD Racing were right in the thick of the lead battle during the opening stages of the San Marino Grand Prix, as David Almansa set the pace up front from pole and Maximo Quiles began his charge forward. Kelso soon worked his way into fourth place after passing Valentin Perrone, positioning himself just behind the podium fight as the race settled into its rhythm.

For much of the race, Kelso looked a genuine chance for a top-five result. He was part of the second group behind the leading trio of Almansa, Quiles and Brian Uriarte, dicing with Matteo Bertelle, Rico Salmela and Perrone as the battle intensified in the middle stages.

A small mistake at the start of lap 10 cost Kelso some momentum and dropped him back to seventh, making life harder in the closing laps as the group shuffled positions. Even so, he stayed in touch and kept himself in contention to the flag, ultimately banking another strong top-seven finish at a demanding Misano circuit.

Up front, Quiles made it back-to-back wins in remarkable style. Almansa had led every lap and every sector that mattered, only for Quiles to draft past him on the run to the line and snatch victory by just 0.021s. Uriarte completed the podium, while Bertelle and Perrone finished just ahead of Salmela and Kelso.

Joel Kelso – P7
“Pace was red hot today! Gave it our all, but we’re still missing a little something in a few areas. Overall, super happy with the weekend. We’re getting closer to where we need to be — just have to find that final step!”