The spirit of Valentino Rossi flew over the Termas de Río Hondo circuit with the triumph of his disciple Marco Bezzecchi, one of the regulars at Ranch de Tavullia. The Italian from Rimini, with his VR6 Ducati, Dottore's team, prevailed in the wet in Argentina and rebounded to the lead in the World Cup, thanks to the fall and zero by Pecco Bagnaia (16th).
Àlex Márquez, third, achieved his first podium with Ducati, the first drawer after three years, since Aragón 2020. However, the man from Cervera gave up the second drawer on the last lap to Johann Zarco, and with him, also third place from general to French.
With only 17 riders on the grid (5 casualties due to injury, the last one, Joan Mir's due to the crash in the Sprint) and with the track soaked, the queen class race soon took on the overtones of a survival test, only suitable for the brave and for daring when driving over puddles.
As happened in the Sprint on Saturday, Àlex Márquez was unable to maintain the privileged position of pole position. He took the lead from a Marco Bezzecchi who was left with a thorn in his chest and went out like a shot to look for his first MotoGP victory, after his third place in Portugal.
Bagnaia, the leader, gritted his teeth to follow in the wake of Márquez and not lose pace, with Morbidelli fourth. Maverick Viñales was behind a lot, from 5th on the grid to 13th, while Aleix Espargaró, who started well, 5th, fell back to 10th, without a good feeling in the water. Like Quartararo, who does not raise his head and to top it off he had an attack from Nakagami, which took him to the back.
Less lucky was Saturday's hero, Brad Binder, who only lasted five corners on the KTM; he went to the ground and had to retire.
In only seven laps, Bezzecchi had already opened a considerable gap, from 1.8 to 2 seconds over Àlex Márquez, Bagnaia and Morbidelli, who made up the chasing trio, and in turn they were 3 seconds behind Di Giannantonio, Rins, Miller , Zarco and Martín, who made up the third most uptight group.
The races in the wet equalize the hierarchies in the dry, and drivers of little relevance or technically challenged stand out. This was the case of the rookie Augusto Fernández, who with his Gas Gas rose to 12th place (v. 10) among the two official, water-repellent Aprilias.
As the laps fell, Bezzecchi gradually increased his advantage at the front of the race over his three immediate pursuers (4.7s in lap 15/25), while Àlex Márquez held on in second place carrying the weight of the hunt, in front of Bagnaia and Morbidelli.
The dance between Márquez and Bagnaia, as in the Sprint, began with 11 laps to go, when both were already 5 seconds behind Bezzecchi. The champion launched an inside releasing brakes at turn 13 to conquer second position, but the Catalan held his wheel and stayed close. Morbidelli had dropped in the trio by almost a second.
However, the script was blown up when Bagnaia crashed three laps later, with 8 laps to go, when he slipped at turn 13 when he turned his Ducati to the right. He was able to rejoin, but he was very late. Márquez was left alone in second position, 6.5s behind Bezzecchi and with 7 tenths of a margin over Morbidelli, who already had the bulk of the Zarco, Martín, Miller and Quartararo group hooked.
With three laps to go, Zarco caught up with Morbidelli and took third place on the podium. He had Márquez at 1.1 seconds, a margin that would end up being insufficient for the Catalan to secure second position. The Frenchman pounced on him with two laps to go, the man from Cervera held on bravely, but on the last lap he gave way to the strength of Zarco, an accomplished water specialist.
Bezzecchi had no problem taking victory, the first of his life in MotoGP, which also gives him the lead in the World Championship, thanks to the 9 points on Saturday in the Sprint and the crash of Bagnaia, who did not add any points (it was 16th).
I can only be happy, I am very satisfied, it was easy to make a mistake, Johann Zarco was going very fast and I couldn't follow him, and Bezzecchi too and I wasn't able to go with him. It's been a long time since Aragón 2020 from my last podium, it's incredible. Even better things can come", commented the man from Cervera, exultant with his first podium with Ducati.
