Marc Marquez overcame a pair of high-speed practice crashes and his equal-worst qualifying of the MotoGP season to win his ninth sprint race of 2025 at the Dutch Grand Prix, the six-time premier-class world champion extending his series lead to 43 points on Saturday at Assen.
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The Ducati rider was left with stitches in his chin and bruises to his face, fingers, stomach and left elbow after a 200km/h spill in Friday afternoon practice, but the Spaniard made a superb start from fourth on the grid to challenge pole-sitter Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) into the first corner, eventually taking the lead at the end of opening lap and never relinquishing it to win by 0.351 seconds.
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Alex Marquez finished behind his older sibling in a sprint for second place for the ninth time in 10 races this year for Gresini Ducati, with Italian Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) finishing on a sprint podium for the first time since the 2023 Indonesian Grand Prix, 35 races ago, in third place.
“Today we breathe, we breathe a lot on the qualifying practice especially because my body cannot accept another big crash like yesterday,” Marc Marquez said.
“Today, I was calm and tried to control the situation. It’s true that I didn’t expect the victory on the sprint, but I start first and then I defend. I just tried to don’t do any big mistakes … don’t exaggerate, but don’t do any big mistakes.”
PIT TALK PODCAST: MotoGP world TV feed commentator Matt Birt joins hosts Michael Lamonato and Matt Clayton to discuss the 2025 season so far, Jack Miller’s Yamaha future, the expectations for Toprak Razgatlioglu in 2026 and if Marc Marquez is stronger than ever after his Italian Grand Prix victory.
Both Marquez brothers made their way past Quartararo’s Yamaha inside the opening two laps, with Bezzecchi joining the podium fight by lap three after overtaking Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia, who came into the Assen weekend on a three-race Dutch Grand Prix winning streak.
Alex Marquez, who was criticised for his lack of aggression in battles with his brother after last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, stayed in his sibling’s wheel tracks for the opening six laps before Marc Marquez escaped to lead by three-tenths of a second with six laps to go, and crossed the finish line after 13 laps with his largest advantage of the race.
From his fourth pole position of the season earlier on Saturday, Quartararo crashed out from fourth place at turn 10 with four laps remaining, while Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio overtook Bagnaia on lap six to inherit fourth place when the Frenchman fell.
Bagnaia finished a muted fifth, the two-time world champion falling to 117 points behind championship-leading teammate Marc Marquez, after starting from second on the grid.
Australia’s Jack Miller (Yamaha) finished 14th from the same starting position, 15.899secs behind Marquez and 3.7secs behind Pramac Yamaha teammate Miguel Oliveira (12th), the pair locked in a battle to retain a seat at Yamaha’s second team after the Japanese factory signed World Superbikes star Toprak Razgatlioglu for 2026 earlier this month.
Miller has scored just one point, for ninth in Great Britain, in 10 sprint races this season, and stays in 19th place in the championship standings with 31 points.
The 26-lap Dutch Grand Prix, round 10 of the 22-round MotoGP season, will take place at 11pm on Sunday (AEST).