Bagnaia ends Marquez streak

It took six races and three Grands Prix, but Marc Marquez has finally been beaten in the 2025 MotoGP season at a dramatic Americas Grand Prix.

Whilst the #93 was not on the top step at COTA, Ducati still was with teammate Francesco Bagnaia opening his account in tricky conditions.

Marquez’s perfect start appeared set to extend as he not only won the Sprint, but also led the first nine laps of the Grand Prix.

Despite being more than 2s up the road and in control, Marquez slipped off on the Turn 4 kerb.

This promoted Bagnaia into the lead and he capitalised on the opportunity to take a 2s win as Alex Marquez settled for second yet again, but snatched the championship lead, while Fabio Di Giannantonio showed strong pace to appear on the podium.

It was a positive weekend for Australia’s Jack Miller, getting his first top five for Pramac Yamaha and second in 21 races.

“What a fantastic feeling to be back on the top step after such a difficult period,” Bagnaia simply said in Parc feme.

After Marquez took pole for a record eighth time at COTA, he set about maintaining his streak in the Sprint, but faced the toughest fight on his hands as Bagnaia had a red-hot crack.

The Italian made his intentions clear by shooting from sixth to first with a storming start and lunge at the opening turn.

This set the scene for a thrilling opening lap where the lead changed on eight separate occasions.

Marquez appeared in control, only for a wild tank slapper coming out of Turn 18 allowed both Alex Marquez and Bagnaia to swamp him, but the #93 still somehow stayed on his bike and emerged in front.

Despite numerous significant scares on the first lap, Marc Marquez enjoyed an unchallenged ride to the top step to get a fifth straight win at the start of 2025.

It was again a Marquez brothers one-two with Alex also staying ahead of Bagnaia.

Further back Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo rose from 11^th to fourth on the first lap, but ultimately fell to sixth behind the VR46 teammates.

“It was a tricky first lap,” Marquez told MotoGP.com.

“Pecco attacked me in the first corner, then I came back at Turn 3, then I tried to push to open a gap – because I had the pace – but I had that massive moment on the long right corner.

“I started to open the gas and then I started to slide, slide, slide and it was like it would never stop! Maybe I was with too much lean angle. But yeah, it was a scary moment!

“I said ‘OK, I will lose…’ But I could get it back under control in a good way.

“The most important for me is that already in the next corner I was able to attack and to come back to leading the race and I rode in a smoother way and from that point I tried to control.”

Marc Marquez appeared to a make another masterstroke even before the formation lap of the Grand Prix.

The MotoGP broadcast had to cut its intro as Marquez suddenly bolted from the grid and sprinted to his wet weather bike in the lane.

Nine others eventually followed the Ducati star into the lane, resembling something of an old fashioned Le Mans start.

But with Maverick Vinales running on the grid without a bike, the warm up lap was delayed by 20 minutes.

It was a let off for Marquez and company as only Brad Binder, Enea Bastianini and Al Ogura had lined up on the wets.

“I really know the rules and how to do, and be on the limit all of the time,” Marquez revealed to MotoGP.com.

“I asked to [Marco] Rigamonti my chief mechanic, seven minutes before the start, if the second bike was ready. He told me ‘yes’. And then I said to him ‘maybe I will leave the grid’. Why? Because I predicted when I will leave – I saw that the rain tyres were [already] not the correct strategy.”

The strategy looked set to be the key to another victory for Marquez as he got a grand start and controlled the first nine laps.

The #93 was 2s up the road, only to take too much of the wet Turn 4 kerb and crash out.

Bagnaia again made great ground on the opening lap, which allowed him to eventually pick off Alex Marquez and inherit the lead when his teammate tripped up.

Whilst the #63 was victorious, Alex Marquez snatched the championship lead from his brother.

Just one point splits the siblings ahead of the Qatar Motorcycle Grand Prix on April 11-13.

Image: Getty

2025 Americas Motorcycle Grand Prix results

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