At the bottom of the hole on Saturday, in the sky on Sunday. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) had a rollercoaster weekend at the Catalan Grand Prix, which he won after experiencing a nightmare the day before during the sprint. The two-time reigning world champion fell on the last lap while leading the race, but he did not make the same mistake in the long race, which he finished with 1.7 seconds. ahead of Jorge Martin (Pramac).
The Italian did not lead the 24 laps from start to finish. He took the lead thanks to a good start, but had to give way to Pedro Acosta and Jorge Martin, who began to open up a significant gap. Except that Bagnaia managed. And, after Acosta’s fall on the 12th lap, he gradually closed his gap on Martin, whom he dropped five laps from the end.
“I was very angry yesterday (Saturday), explained the Italian on Canal+. But I knew the potential to win the race was there. The start wasn’t easy because all the other riders were pushing a lot but when they started to have difficulty with the front tire I started to push more. And the pace was fantastic. »
With his third Grand Prix victory of the season, Bagnaia relaunched in a moment of doubt, even if his delay over Martin in the Championship does not change radically: he is 39 points behind the leader in the general classification, and only 2 steps ahead of Marc Marquez. The latter once again made a remarkable comeback, starting from 14th place to once again reach the podium.
Among the French, Fabio Quartararo (9th) managed to score a top 10. The Yamaha rider crossed the finish line in 10th position but he benefited from the downgrading of Enea Bastianini, who did not respect his penalty during the race. On his Honda LCR, Johann Zarco finished further back, in 16th place.
