French GP: Marc Márquez crashes while defending second place in a French GP in which Bezzecchi flies | Motorcycling | Sports

The French Grand Prix, the 1,000th event in the history of the Motorcycle World Championship, left a very complete and entertaining race with more than 116,000 spectators vibrating in the stands: vibrating with Fabio Quartararo, the local hero, seventh, much to his regret; vibrating with Márquez, the idol of the masses; vibrating with an Italian godson by Valentino Rossi who looks like a candidate for the title. Marco Bezzecchi’s recital, which saw the checkered flag waved by the legendary Giacomo Agostini, allowed him to win with authority and comfort on a podium with full ducatis satelite. The winner, who remains one point off the lead, took more than four seconds from Jorge Martín and Johann Zarco in a high-voltage and very eventful test.

Marc Márquez, one of the great protagonists of the weekend, crashed on the penultimate lap, when trying to defend second position and after having an electric duel with Martín. After the fourth overtaking of the man from Madrid, the man from Cervera went a tad long, the bike was a nerve, and he could not control the front end in the seventh corner: he fell hopelessly. And he looked up at the sky, disappointed, from the gravel. Once again he had found the limit of the Honda after riding all the time in leading positions, the podium in his pocket. Behind, lost in the standings, his brand mates Joan Mir and Alex Rins also fell.

The good performance of the eight-time world champion, who had them all throughout his first competition weekend in a month and a half – the Catalan returned to racing after breaking the fifth metacarpal in his left hand – ended in slip after signing a notable second position on the grid and a fifth place in the race to sprint of Saturday. On Sunday, a great start allowed him to lead after the first corner, but the pace of Jack Miller’s KTM was superior and on the third lap he relinquished the lead of the race. Then, from behind, came the fireworks.

With Marc comfortable in second place, a rising Maverick Viñales ripped off Pecco Bagnaia’s stickers, who wanted to immediately return the play at an impossible point and caused a touch that ended in disaster on the fifth lap. The number one and the rider from Roses (third and fourth until the incident in question) got so unfortunate that the Aprilia rider couldn’t avoid him when he tried to lift the bike to save the fall. On the gravel and with the heat of the double touch, both sung the forty and exchanged a couple of slaps with their helmets on. Despite the accumulated tension, both returned together as a package in the scooter of a commissioner Calmer, already in the paddockThey agreed to shake hands.

In the blink of an eye, another dangerous fall by Luca Marini caused the impact of Álex Márquez, who was lucky after lying on the track and avoiding the peloton that was following him. With four of the six drivers in the front group suddenly eliminated, the race gave a second chance to a Martín who had fallen from third to tenth place on the first lap. Bezzecchi, who started seventh, looked stronger than anyone and wanted to take out the hammer with some haste.

An overtaking of the winner on 93 was penalized by the stewards, who forced him to lose a position on the ninth lap. Despite the mess, the Italian had plenty of pace and went after Miller, whom he overtook on the eleventh lap. The Australian fell to the lead in the second leg of the race and Márquez was left paddling alone in second position, harassed only by Martín. Comfortable in the melee, the Honda powerhouse was able to draw positive conclusions despite the new zero that leaves him 82 points behind the leader after five rounds.

In the event number 1,000, MotoGP was able to celebrate a record attendance in its entire history: 278,805 spectators visited the Le Mans circuit in the midst of an impressive atmosphere after a weekend to get their chests out with the spectacle lived. In addition to the prominence of Márquez and the unappealable triumph of Bezzecchi, the great role of the only rookie of the course also earned applause from the stands. The Mallorcan Augusto Fernández, Moto2 champion last year, led the GasGas to fourth place in his fifth race in the premier class.

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