Mugello joy for Pecco Bagnaia in MotoGP clash

Pecco Bagnaia (centre) celebrates winning the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello from team-mate Enea Bastianini and championship leader Jorge Martin. (Photo by MotoGP)

Bagnaia finished winning both the Sprint race and the 23-lap MotoGP race, to slash Martin’s lead in the series from 39 to 18 points as the series heads to Assen in a few weeks.

From his second row start, Bagnaia was sensational as he blasted from fifth to first by turn two and proceeded to open up a comfortable gap to Martin, who tried his best to stay with his championship rival.

Bagnaia was in no mood to give up a maximum point advantage and even when Martin began closing the gap, in the closing stages of the race, the Italian simply upped the pace to claim his 93rd MotoGP win in front of 81,000 adoring home fans.

“It wasn’t easy starting from P5 but I had this strategy to go for the outside and it went perfectly,” said Bagnaia. “Then I started to push, which wasn’t easy as it was difficult to manage the rear tyre as I was pushing a lot the front but, finally, the win today after a weekend like this is fantastic in front of my fans, I love all of them.

"Gracia Mugello fantastico.”

Bagnaia’s team-mate Enea Bastianini made it a 1-2 for the Ducati Lenovo team after two amazing passes, firstly on Marc Marquez and then Jorge Martin at the final corner on the last lap.

Martin completed the podium ahead of Marc Marquez in fourth and rookie Pedro Acosta - who signed to ride the factory KTM in 2025 – was fifth, with Franco Morbidelli completing the top six.

Californian Joe Roberts (American Racing Kalex) claimed his first win of the season from pole position in the 12-lap Moto2 race after a fantastic battle with Manuel Gonzalez (QJ Motor Gresini Moto2) on the final lap.

His win closes the gap in the championship to seven points behind Serigo Garcia.

The shortened 11-lap Moto3 race was won by Colombian David Alonso (CFMoto Aspar Team), his fourth of the season, despite a strong challenge from Dutch rider Collin Veijer.

He now leads the riders' standings by 14 points.

The original race was red-flagged on lap four after an incident on lap three involving Filippo Farioli and Xabi Zurutuza.