End of suspense. Italian reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia won the Spanish Grand Prix, the fourth round of the Moto GP season, on Sunday in Jerez. He thus took the lead in the world championship. Long second, the Transalpine overtook the KTM of South African Brad Binder on his factory Ducati with four laps remaining to clinch his 13th success in the premier class, the second in a row in Andalusia.
Bagnaia, who had fallen in the last two Grand Prix in the United States and Argentina, made up for it in Spain with this success on Sunday, combined with his second place in the sprint on Saturday. He took advantage of the fall of his compatriot Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati-VR46), overall leader before this race, to escape the world championship standings since he now has a 22-point lead over the latter, and 25 over Binder, winner of the sprint on Saturday.
A complicated day for the French
Australian Jack Miller (KTM), in the lead during the first half of the race, completed the podium, while Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati-Pramac) took fourth place ahead of his compatriot Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia), who started on pole but who missed his start and was never able to fight for victory.
The day was further complicated for the French as Johann Zarco (Ducati-Pramac) fell eight laps from the end when he was in fifth position, while Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) took 10th place. The 2021 world champion, however, limited the damage since he had started in 16th position, the worst result of his career since his debut in the premier category in 2019.
Above all, he fell shortly after the first start, dragging down the unfortunate Portuguese Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia-RNF), who was hit in the shoulder. The race was interrupted by a red flag after this accident and the Niçois was able to take the second start.