Dominant since the start of the weekend, Marco Bezzecchi was once again irresistible in the sprint race at Assen, despite losing two positions at the start. Fabio Quartararo had his best sprint race, earning the third place medal thanks to a penalty for Brad Binder. Pecco Bagnaia for his part continued to score big points.
On asphalt at 41°C, all the riders opted for the soft tire at the rear, and they mostly chose the hard one at the front. Johann Zarco, Miguel Oliviera and the LCR riders preferred the medium, while the Gresini representatives opted for the soft.
Leader of all the sessions since Friday and author of the pole, Bezzecchi was overtaken by Bagnaia at the start then Binder at the second corner. Quartararo remained fourth, ahead of Luca Marini, Aleix Espargaró and Johann Zarco, who quickly took the advantage over the Aprilia rider. Miguel Oliveira tried to take advantage of this and the drivers got in the way, allowing Jorge Martín to move up to sixth place ahead of Zarco, Espargaró and Viñales.
Bagnaia started to build a small gap on Binder. In order not to let the Ducati rider escape, Bezzecchi attacked Binder on the second lap and was able to overtake him. Meanwhile, Martín closed the gap between him and Marini and overtook him before the end of the lap, for fifth place. More in difficulty than his teammate, Zarco was overtaken by the two Aprilia riders then by Jack Miller and Álex Márquez, which took him out of the points.
Bezzecchi managed to bridge the half-second that separated him from Bagnaia. The latter opened his trajectory at the start of the fourth lap and Bezzecchi took the opportunity to take the lead. Bagnaia tried to retaliate, to no avail. Binder and Quartararo remained in the wheel of the World Champion, while Martín seemed off the hook… before starting to close the gap.
In the lead, Bezzecchi quickly widened the gap, pushing Bagnaia back a second at halfway, with Binder and Quartararo still in his wheel. Behind them, Espargaró broke away from Marini and quickly swooped down on Martín, before passing him on lap eight. He then returned to Quartararo but was never able to mount an attack.
Bezzecchi’s lead was never seriously threatened and the VR46 driver won ahead of Bagnaia and Binder… penalized at the finish by a long lap for too many passages off the track. The three seconds added to his race time made him lose two positions.
Quartararo, who had never done better than ninth in the sprint race, thus took an encouraging third place despite a painful left foot due to a fractured big toe. Binder found himself fifth ahead of Martín and Viñales, who took the lead over Marini. Eighth at the finish, the latter received a penalty of half a second for taking a shortcut, which allowed Enea Bastianini and Álex Márquez to pass in front of him.
Johann Zarco continued his tumble in the standings and only crossed the finish line in 13th position. Rising up to 12th place at the start, Marc Márquez then had a difficult race and only finished in 17th place, his position on the grid. Fabio Di Giannantonio fell from 14th, far from the fight for points.