Marquez wins San Marino MotoGP as leader Martin pays for rain gamble

Marc Marquez won the San Marino and Rimini Riviera MotoGP on Sunday while Francesco Bagnaia closed in on championship leader Jorge Martin whose gamble on pitting for rain tyres came with a heavy cost.

After going three years without a GP win, Spaniard Marquez won his second in as many weeks, finishing ahead of pole-sitter Bagnaia after bursting through from ninth on the starting grid.

The six-time MotoGP champion’s stunning win at Misano Adriatico means he is now 53 points behind countryman Martin, who will be licking his wounds after a disastrous Sunday.

Martin pitted with 20 laps remaining to change his bike as it began to rain on the “Marco Simoncelli” circuit in the hope that he would have the better of it on a wet track.

But Martin was the only one of the title contenders to do so and the rain, which was forecast to fall heavily in the afternoon, slackened almost immediately after he exited the pit and left the Pramac rider out of contention in 15th.

After storming to Saturday’s sprint in stunning style Martin was a good bet to extend his lead on Bagnaia but instead he picked up just one point on Sunday, damaging his bid for a first MotoGP title.

The primary beneficiary was Ducati rider Bagnaia, who is now only seven points behind Martin in the championship standings despite being outdone by Marquez on his home track.

Bagnaia’s bid to catch Martin will be further helped by this weekend being the first of two in a row at Misano, as the circuit is being used later in September for the Emilia Romagna GP which replaces the cancelled race in Kazakhstan.