In front of tens of thousands of tifosi massed on the hills around the Mugello circuit, the provisional leader of the championship, although diminished by a foot injury contracted by falling during the last race at Le Mans, was first the fastest in qualifying (Q2) and then took his third victory of the season in a sprint.

"It rained a bit at the beginning so I was a bit scared, but in the end it was a great battle with Bezzecchi who had an incredible pace. I had a lot of fun today so I'm very happy to have won in front of all these fans," said the 26-year-old from Turin.

Starting from pole position, +Pecco+ made no mistakes and did not panic despite the changing conditions or when Jorge Martin (Ducati-Pramac) overtook him at the start of the race. He quickly regained the lead to win as boss ahead of his compatriot Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati-VR46), who is close behind him in the world championship.

Zarco close to the podium

"I had pace but unfortunately I wasn't good enough in qualifying to hope to win," said Bezzecchi, who made a good comeback from seventh on the grid and is now four lengths behind Bagnaia.

Frenchman Johann Zarco (Ducati-Pramac) also did well on Saturday as he started ninth and finished at the foot of the podium, in the wheel of Martin, his Spanish teammate, who withstood the attacks of the French rider.

© Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP

"I was upset to be on the third row but I'm happy with my race, I was opportunistic and I stayed in touch. At the end, I tried to overtake Jorge but he closed the doors well in the last lap," explained the Avignonnais, who recorded his best result of the season in a sprint.

Spaniard Marc Marquez (Honda) had a mixed day at Mugello, where he won only once in MotoGP (2014).

The six-time world champion first took second place in qualifying by stalling in the wheel of Bagnaia during his fast lap. But he dropped to seventh in the sprint, especially after being hampered by Australian Jack Miller (KTM), who overtook him (6th).

Quartararo frustrated

Spaniard Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) finished eighth, ahead of Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati), who returns to track after an injury suffered the first weekend of the season and snatched ninth place ahead of Frenchman Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha).

The 2021 world champion thus fails at the door of the points zone after having made a good race. "El Diablo", who was only 15th on the grid after still frustrating qualifying, made a nice comeback but could not stand up to the Ducati, who finally beat him by only 27 thousandths of a second after overtaking him in the last corner.

© Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP

"The pace during the race wasn't that bad. I have to be able to find small details about the bike and my riding. But we know that we can not improve on the bike what we have to improve, "said resigned, the Nice, who also announced Saturday on social networks his separation with Eric Mahé, who was his manager for seven years.

South African Brad Binder (KTM), 11th in the sprint, also set a new speed record in MotoGP with a crazy top of 366.1 km/h.

The rain, which fell on Mugello minutes after the sprint, could reshuffle the cards at the Grand Prix which starts Sunday at 14:00 (12:00 GMT).

© 2023 AFP