Marc Márquez continues to surprise and stars in a great return to Mugello
Shortly after being operated on, he achieved fourth position in the official practice of the Italian Grand Prix
BarcelonaMarc Márquez still keeps his capacity to surprise intact. The rider from Cervera underwent a double surgical intervention just three weeks ago, after suffering a very serious fall in Le Mans. Many thought that the reigning MotoGP champion would miss several Grand Prix, but this weekend he was already back on his Ducati Desmosedici GP26 at the Mugello Grand Prix, where he finished fifth in the sprint race and achieved fourth position in official practice.
It has been a frantic day that has announced a very exciting race for this Sunday. In the official practice session, the Aprilias have dominated in a forceful manner and, in fact, the front row of the starting grid for this Sunday will be all theirs. Marco Bezzecchi, who defends the first position in the overall World Championship standings, achieved the best time and the pole position, setting a new lap record and breaking Marc Márquez's record from a year ago with a time of 1:43:921. Bezzecchi flew with a very good pace and beat Raúl Fernández, who will start second. In third position appears Jorge Martin, who has also made history, as he reached 368.6 km/h on the straight, the highest speed ever recorded in MotoGP. Marc Márquez finished fourth and was the best Ducati, but he made it clear that he is not content with such a fast lap. As always, he wants more.
With these records, no one doubted that an Aprilia would win the sprint race. And so it has been. But the winner, Raúl Fernández from Madrid, has been a bit of a surprise, leaving Italian fans who were expecting a victory from Bezzecchi with their mouths hanging open. Márquez started very strong and took the lead after the first corner, although he didn't hold onto that position for long, being overtaken in the first few laps by the Aprilias of Raúl Fernández and Jorge Martín. The rider from Cervera, also overtaken by the Italians Di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi, decided to be cautious on his return and waited for his rivals' mistakes. Fernández, however, set a strong pace and pulled away in first place. Thus, he achieved his first sprint victory of the season. Martín finished second, and third place went to the Italian Di Giannantonio, with Marco Bezzecchi fourth and Marc Márquez fifth.