MotoGP News: Marc Marquez holds of Bezzecchi to win at Assen

Marc Marquez has won the Dutch GP MotoGP race at Assen. He joins Giacomo Agostini with 68 premier-class wins with a hard-fought victory by 0.6s over Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi.

The win leaves only arch-rival Valentino Rossi (89) ahead of Marquez in the record books.

The #93 and #72 treated us to a fascinating Grand Prix at the front, as Marquez’s teammate Francesco Bagnaia was a couple of seconds away in P3.

OPENING LAPS

Bagnaia got a brilliant start from the middle of the front row and grabbed the holeshot into Turn 1 as Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) lost out. The polesitter was down to P4, Alex Marquez was P2 and Marc Marquez was P3 – before he wasn’t. The #93 carved his way past his chief title rival at Turn 1 on Lap 2 to sit behind teammate Pecco, and Bezzecchi then took P3 from Alex Marquez at the end of Lap 2.

Quartararo’s early Grand Prix pace was suffering. The Frenchman was down to P7 behind Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), as Acosta became the latest rider to wrestle his way through on Alex Marquez. That meant on Lap 5 of 26, Bagnaia led from Marc Marquez and Bezzecchi, with Acosta, Alex Marquez and Morbidelli right in the hunt.

DRAMA AS ALEX MARQUEZ CRASHES

The leader of the pack wasn’t Pecco at the end of Lap 5 though as Marc Marquez lunged up the inside of his teammate. Then, on Lap 6, drama. Alex Marquez and Acosta were rubbing shoulders and fairings on the exit of Turn 5 and heading up the back straight, Marquez was suddenly down. A puff of smoke from the Gresini star’s front tire suggested something had happened with the front brake lever, but in any case, Alex Marquez’s Grand Prix was over – and it was later confirmed he’d unfortunately fractured his left hand.

Further back in the pack, the other BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP rider, Fermin Aldeguer, highsided out of contention at Turn 11, and that left Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol) and Quartararo with nowhere to go. The latter was wide and down to P13, as Mir unfortunately also crashed.

THE RUN TO THE FLAG

At the front, Marquez remained the at the front but on Lap 8, Bezzecchi made a move on Pecco to pounce up to P2. Now, Pecco had Acosta climbing all over the back of Pecco and sure enough, the KTM star moved into P3. And it was really closing up at the front because Maverick Viñales (Red Bull KTM Tech3) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) reeled themselves into the podium picture.

On Lap 13, Marc Marquez was putting the hammer down. A 1:32.273 was over two tenths quicker than Bezzecchi, but on the next lap, the Italian responded with a fastest lap of the Grand Prix. And on that same lap, Pecco passed Acosta to regain P3.

And now he was back in P3, Pecco set the fastest lap. Two tenths quicker than Marquez, less than half a tenth quicker than Bezzecchi. After threatening to break clear, Marquez didn’t look like he was going to be able to do so at this stage. The chasers were locked in, and that included Acosta. And again, Pecco slammed in another Grand Prix best lap, but he lost 0.3s on the next lap.

So where were we on Lap 20? Marquez led Bezzecchi by 0.2s, with Pecco 0.5s behind the Aprilia and Acosta 0.7s off the Ducati. It was as you were two laps later, as Bezzecchi continued to tag himself onto the rear tyre of Marquez.

Three to go. Bezzecchi remained 0.2s away and he just couldn’t quite get close enough to realistically make a lunge on the #93. Two to go. Bezzecchi was digging deep but Marquez wasn’t putting a wheel out of line, and Pecco was now 0.9s away from his compatriot. And the penultimate lap was where the gap stretched out to 0.7s – was that game over?

It looked that way. Bezzecchi couldn’t close in and Marquez had 0.7s to play with heading into the final sector. And powering his Ducati through the final chicane, Marquez clinched victory at Assen to draw level with MotoGP Legend Giacomo Agostini on 68 MotoGP wins. An unbelievable record as he continues to set the world alight in 2025.

Bezzecchi hands Aprilia a double podium weekend at Assen as the #72 pushes Marquez all the way at the Cathedral, with Bagnaia returning to the podium in P3 after a disappointing result on home turf seven days ago.

2025 Dutch GP MotoGP Results