Marquez fends off Bezzecchi for Czech MotoGP victory
Brno (Czech Republic)
The 'unstoppable' Marc Marquez emerged victorious yet again on Sunday at the Czech MotoGP to become the first Ducati rider to win five Grands Prix on the spin, but he was made to work for it in the first half of the battle.
It was the Spaniard's eighth victory in 12 races this season and fifth in a row, extending his commanding lead in the world championship.
The factory Ducati rider beat Marco Bezzecchi on an Aprilia by almost two seconds, while Pedro Acosta on a KTM came in third in his first race podium finish of the season.
Marquez had a fifth straight perfect weekend, winning both the sprint on Saturday and Sunday's race.
The 32-year-old Spaniard now leads the world championship with 381 points, 120 ahead of his younger brother Alex who crashed, and 168 ahead of Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia.
'It has been a super first part of the season and especially these last races,' Marquez said.
'I feel better and better and I'm riding super good,' he added.
Bagnaia started from pole in bright sunshine but only retained the lead until the second lap when Bezzecchi eased past him, with Marquez following suit soon afterwards.
Acosta did the same to settle down in third after getting a boost from a second-place finish in Saturday's sprint.
Marquez glided past Bezzecchi in lap eight as the runaway trio kept building up their lead, and as so often this season kept widening the gap comfortably.
The three stayed put until the finish line, although fourth-placed Bagnaia gave Acosta a hard time pressing from behind.
'The first lap was unbelievable,' said Bezzecchi.
'I had so much fun in the first half of the race but unfortunately when Marc passed me I immediately saw that he had something more.'
'I tried to attack but he was strong. Anyway, I made a fantastic performance, I'm very, very happy,' added the Italian.
Marquez took 40min 04.628sec to complete the 21 laps on the resurfaced 5.4-kilometre Brno circuit returning to the MotoGP calendar after a five-year break due to financial woes.
Bezzecchi crossed the line 1.753 seconds adrift, while Acosta trailed Marquez by 3.366sec.
Almost 220,000 fans gathered in the stands for the weekend as Marquez sped to his fourth MotoGP win at Brno after 2013, 2017 and 2019.
The MotoGP circus will now take a summer break and resume with the Austrian GP on August 15-17.
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