Aprilia rider Marco Bezzecchi took a sensational victory at the Misano MotoGP Sprint in front of his home crowd, whilst runaway championship leader Marc Márquez crashed out from the lead of the 13-lap race. F1Technical’s senior writer Balazs Szabo reports on the Misano Sprint.
The run into the first corner in terms of the holeshot was a hotly contested one and hanging it around the outside through Turn 1 and into Turn 2 was Bezzecchi, as Marc Marquez got aggressive to get past Alex Marquez to earn an early P2. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) lost one place and was P4 at the end of Lap 1, as Bezzecchi held off Marc Marquez on the opening lap.
Starting from pole in front in his come crowd, Marco Bezzecchi got a great getaway to hang on to the lead, whilst Marc Marquez Marc Marquez got aggressive to get past Alex Marquez to earn an early P2.
Further down the field, two-time MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia lost four positions on the opening lap, dropping down to P11.
The opening stages of the 13-lap sprint saw Bezzecchi, Marc Marquez and Alex Marquez dominate proceedings, and they were able to escape from the chasing pack.
On Lap 5, Fabio Quartararo’s Sprint came to a premature end when he lost the front end of his Yamaha in Turn 2. It marked a huge blow to his weekend as the Frenchman looked to have encouaging race pace until his crash and had every chance to score valuable points.
In the meantime, Bezzecchi built up a small marging between himself and Marc Márquez, albeit it did not last long as the Spaniard managed to close in on the Italian quickly.
On Lap 6, the Aprilia rider made a small error at Turn 4 which enabled Marquez to take over the lead. However, the Italian put the Ducati rider under immense pressure, and the Spaniard made a rare mistake at 15, going a bit wide which saw him crash out of the lead on a day when he could have secured his 15th sprint victory in 16 sprint races.
With three to go, Bezzecchi had stretched his lead to just under a second now and it looked like the home hero had this one covered. In the meantime, di Giannantonio had to fight hard for his third place as his team-mate Morbidelli began to put him under huge pressure.
Bezzecchi started the last 0.8s ahead of Alex Marquez, and he held his nerve to convert his pole position into a victory at the Misano MotoGP Sprint, with Alex Marquez and Di Giannantonio having completed the podium in Italy.
Despite his great pace in the dying moments of the sprint race, Morbidelli didn’t quite have enough to get the better of his teammate, but his fourth place finish was still an encouraging result for the VR46 rider.
Having crashed in qualifying, Pedro Acosta had a great revocery ride in the Sprint, finishing fifth, beating the fast-charging Gresini’s rookie Fermin Aldeguer.
On the back of Honda’s great weekend at the Balaton Park Circuit, Honda’s Luca Marini displayed impressive speed at Misano to finish seventh, with Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez having collected the final Saturday points.
Some important points gathered by these riders in the #TissotSprint today 👀#SanMarinoGP 🇸🇲 pic.twitter.com/EvcSwxSUMq
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) September 13, 2025
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