Bagnaia leads all-Ducati podium to take Mugello sprint win
Starting from pole, Bagnaia made a brilliant launch as he led into turn one from Marc Marquez who held off Jack Miller.
However, it was a disastrous opening lap for the other Marquez as Alex crashed out at turn one following an incident with Brad Binder.
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Using Ducati’s top speed to full effect, Jorge Martin slipstreamed his way through on Marquez for second, after having denied Luca Marini P3.
With just one lap completed, rain flags were being waved as a tentative Bagnaia was overtaken by Martin.
A train of riders were right up behind Bagnaia as Miller began to make his way up the order.
Ultra aggressive, lap three was a chaotic one for the factory KTM riders as Miller pushed Marquez wide which resulted in the Honda rider dropping from third to seventh, while Binder shoved Quartararo wide two corners later.
Binder was then given a Long Lap penalty for knocking Marquez off his Gresini Ducati on lap one.
A lap after losing the lead to Bagnaia, Martin then made another error at turn one as he ran wide and allowed Marco Bezzecchi to come through.
Climbing all over Bagnaia with half the race complete, Bezzecchi looked set to challenge for the lead into turn one but the reigning world champion was too strong on the brakes.
Aware of Bezzecchi’s presence, Bagnaia then put the hammer down as he began to gap his fellow Ducati rider.
A lead of one tenth grew to nearly half a second with four laps remaining, as Martin and Zarco closed in on second place.
Despite a track limits warning on the penultimate lap, Bagnaia was continuing to pump in some very fast sectors in order to respond to Bezzecchi’s challenge.
With the top two settled, Zarco was doing everything he could to challenge Martin but was unable to get alongside his teammate.
