Bagnaia emerges victorious in a thrilling race from start to finish. Credit: Ducati Media House
Francesco Bagnaia of Ducati sealed a commanding win in the MotoGP race at Assen, making it his third consecutive victory at the circuit.
Jorge Martin of Pramac finished approximately three seconds behind Bagnaia to claim second place, while Enea Bastianini recovered from 11th on the grid to secure the final spot on the podium.
Bagnaia had a comfortable start and took the lead in the first corner, with Maverick Vinales of Aprilia close behind, and Martin gaining two positions after being demoted three places.
Yamaha’s Alex Rins suffered a severe accident in the opening corner, forcing him to retire from the race.
Martin made an aggressive move on Vinales during the first lap, and Marc Marquez of Gresini followed suit on the next lap.
Rookie sensation Pedro Acosta climbed from tenth on the grid to fifth within the first two laps, taking advantage of the mistakes made by the riders ahead of him.
Bagnaia quickly pulled away from the pack, extending his lead over Martin to two seconds after three laps, with Marquez a further second behind in third place.
Luca Marini’s difficult weekend continued as he ran off the track and retired, still unable to score his first point for Repsol Honda.
Marco Bezzecchi fell off his bike but managed to continue, although his chances of a strong finish were dashed. On Lap 7, his team decided to retire the bike.
Bezzecchi’s VR46 Ducati teammate, Di Giannantonio, lost a few places at the start despite a strong qualifying session. However, he quickly overtook both Acosta and Alex Marquez to put himself back in contention for a podium finish.
Marquez’s attempts to catch up with the Ducati duo resulted in a warning for exceeding track limits, while Di Giannantonio passed Vinales to secure fourth place.
Repsol Honda’s troubled weekend continued as both their riders retired within the first seven laps, with Joan Mir unable to finish once again.
Di Giannantonio maintained his strong pace, matching the frontrunners, and overtook Marquez to secure a place on the podium.
Although Martin was unable to close the gap to Bagnaia, he maintained a similar pace as the race reached its halfway point.
The gap between second and third place widened to nearly four seconds, with Di Giannantonio fending off Marquez’s attempts to overtake.
Similar to Saturday’s Sprint race, Bastianini found a burst of speed and began closing in on Acosta, aiming to match his fourth-place finish from the previous day.
With nine laps remaining, the Italian successfully passed Acosta. However, drama ensued when he had a moment in Turn 8 on Lap 19, allowing Vinales and Marquez to overtake. Marquez, however, chose not to challenge the Italian further.
Vinales moved up to third place, and Bastianini made a move on Marquez into Turn 1 on Lap 21 to secure fourth.
Di Giannatonio ran wide in the second sector, allowing Acosta to briefly take sixth place. However, the positions were quickly reversed later in the same lap.
Bastianini improved on his performance in Saturday’s Sprint race, securing third place with a pass on Vinales in Turn 17.
Acosta crashed out of the race while in seventh place, and Marquez took advantage to claim fourth on the final lap.
Bagnaia’s flawless weekend earned him maximum points and reduced the championship lead to 10 points behind Martin heading into the next race at Sachsenring.
Martin’s impressive performance secured him second place once again, with Bastianini completing the GP24 Ducati podium in third.
Marquez’s crash in the Sprint race was compensated with a fourth-place finish in the main race, while Vinales settled for fifth. Di Giannantonio finished sixth on the road but was later moved to fifth due to Vinales’ track limits violation.
Brad Binder had a quiet race but emerged as the leading KTM rider following Acosta’s crash. Alex Marquez of Gresini and Raul Fernandez of Trackhouse Aprilia finished in eighth and ninth place, respectively.
Franco Morbidelli rounded off the top ten, while Jack Miller narrowly beat Fabio Quartararo to claim 11th place, with a mere 0.053-second advantage over the 2021 champion.
Johann Zarco finished 18 seconds behind as the leading Honda rider, and Augusto Fernandez of GasGas KTM scored two points.
Miguel Oliveria of Trackhouse Racing secured the final point-scoring position, with Taakaki Nakgami of LCR and Luca Marini finishing as the last two classified riders for Honda.