BRNO: Marc Marquez became the first Ducati rider to win five MotoGP Grand Prix in a row with victory at the Czech GP on Sunday, widening his championship lead over brother Alex Marquez, who crashed out during the second lap after contact with Honda’s Joan Mir.

Marc sits 120 points ahead of Gresini Racing’s Alex after the 12th round, going into a break with the next Grand Prix set to take place in Austria on August 17.

Alex, who finished 17th in Saturday’s sprint, ended a disappointing weekend after attempting to move on Mir for the sixth place, resulting in a crash.

“It has been a super first part of the season,” six-time champion Marc said. “I feel better and better and I’m driving super good.

“Now it’s the summer break, but still 10 races to go. Time to relax but (afterwards) I’ll keep the same mentality and the same intensity.”

Marc’s teammate and two-time champion Francesco Bagnaia could not capitalise on his first pole position of the season, losing the lead to Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi after a slip towards the end of the first lap, before settling for fourth.

Bezzecchi, who beat Marc to win the British Grand Prix in May, stayed at the front until the eighth lap when the Spaniard grabbed the lead and opened up a one-second lead within three laps.

UNTOUCHABLE MARC

Marc was untouchable for the rest of the race, comfortably keeping his lead despite a late rally from Bezzecchi to close the gap, to finish 1.753 seconds before the Italian, winning his eighth race in the 2025 campaign.

“I had so much fun in the first half of the race but unfortunately Marc passed me... I tried to attack but he was strong,” Bezzecchi said after his third podium finish of the season.

The Aprilia team also celebrated when defending champion Jorge Martin, who has missed 10 rounds due to injury setbacks, marked an emotional comeback by completing his first Grand Prix of the year, finishing seventh.

KTM’s Pedro Acosta was third, after successfully thwarting Bagnaia’s late attempts to overtake him, securing a double podium at Brno after finishing second in the Sprint.

“Last time I was on the podium was in Thailand last year... a really long journey to come back here,” said Acosta, celebrating his first top-three finish since October 2024.

Bagnaia remained third in the riders’ championship standings, 168 points behind Marc.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2025