SACHSENRING: Marc Marquez won a bruising German MotoGP on Sunday to mark his 200th premier class start in style and stretch his lead in the world championship.

His brother Alex Marquez took second with Francesco Bagnaia third as only 10 riders finished, the lowest number completing a MotoGP since 2011.

While the rest of the grid struggled to remain on their bikes at this notoriously tricky Sachsenring track, Marc Marquez enjoyed a dream afternoon.

Setting off from pole he was never challenged, crossing the line over six seconds clear for his seventh perfect weekend of 2025 having also won Saturday’s sprint.

At the midway stage of the 22-race campaign Marquez leads brother Alex by 83 points in the riders’ standings, with his Ducati factory teammate Bagnaia a yawning 147 off the lead.

His younger sibling was competing despite fracturing his left hand at the Dutch MotoGP a fortnight ago.

For Marquez this was his seventh race win of the year and fourth on the trot as he tightens his grip on a seventh MotoGP world title — and first since 2019 - to draw level with the legendary Valentino Rossi.

Despite sunshine taking over from Saturday’s rain, the race proved one of the most attritional in years with eight riders crashing and two unable to take part after coming a cropper on Saturday.

Pole-sitter Marquez enjoyed an electric getaway from the front of the grid, in contrast to 24 hours earlier.

Then, a first turn mistake had dropped him down the pack, and it wasn’t until his last lap overtake of Marco Bezzecchi that he wrapped up his 10th sprint out of 11.

On a dry track, Marquez quickly pulled clear of the chasing pack led by Fabio Di Giannantonio.

With Marquez set fair for another demolition job - he’d pulled almost two seconds clear by lap 10 of 30 — his main danger was maintaining focus and concentration around the ultra-demanding circuit with its short straights and tight bends in the former East Germany.

Others were not enjoying their afternoon at one of the toughest venues on the calendar quite so much — notably Pedro Acosta and Miguel Oliveira who both crashed out.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2025