The Championship Leaders Collide at MotoGP's Dutch TT

This weekend, The FIM MotoGP World Championship made its annual pilgrimage to Assen, the Cathedral of Motorcycle Racing. This yr’s Dutch TT didn’t disappoint and offered the standard of racing that earned the circuit its moniker. The race was a frantic crash and pass-filled wrestle that can play a major function in figuring out this yr’s world champion.

Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia received pole place on Saturday, his fourth of the season. For Sunday, Bagnaia and his teammate Jack Miller elected to begin the race with the smooth compound entrance tires. Ducati has struggled with tire put on to date this season. Over the previous 5 races, Bagnaia received two races and crashed out of the opposite three rounds.

At the race begin, Francesco Bagnaia had an excellent launch off the road and was the primary rider by the primary nook. Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo was in a position to get alongside the skin of the Ducati from second place on the grid, however he pushed his bike vast off the observe. This error introduced the Yamaha rider inside the grasp of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaró, who handed him a number of corners later.

Laps later, Quartararo dropped his bike whereas aggressively trying to retake second place by flip 5. As he slid throughout the pavement, his Yamaha made contact with Aleix Espargaró on his exterior. Espargaro was in a position to preserve his Aprilia upright by the gravel lure, however he was plunged down the operating order to fifteenth.

Fabio Quartaro was in a position to climb again onto his YZR-M1, and he rode into the pit lane to retire. Yamaha determined towards retiring and despatched the reigning world champion again out on observe. Later on, Quartararo would crash once more in flip 5. He high-sided his bike whereas exiting the nook and was violently thrown by the air. The first crash had broken a traction management sensor on his Yamaha. Quartararo was in a position to stand up underneath his personal energy. Though, he was limping after the high-side and visibly indignant along with his state of affairs.

As Francesco Bagnaia crossed the end line to win the Dutch TT, Aleix Espargaró was nonetheless hungry to salvage as many factors as doable. By the beginning of the ultimate lap, the Aprilia rider was in seventh place. Espargaró bought previous Jorge Martín for sixth place and sat behind Jack Miller and KTM’s Brad Miller. The Aprilia rider threw his bike up the within of each riders as they entered the ultimate nook, stealing fourth place with the good maneuver.

Race Results – Top 15

1. Francesco Bagnaia
2. Marco Bezzecchi
3. Maverick Viñales
4. Aleix Espargaró
5. Brad Binder
6. Jack Miller
7. Jorge Martín
8. Joan Mir
9. Miguel Oliveira
10. Álex Rins
11. Enea Bastianini
12. Takaaki Nakagami
13. Johann Zarco
14. Fabio Di Giannantonio
15. Álex Márquez

Fabio Quartaro leads the World Riders’ Championship by 21 factors over Aleix Espargaró. MotoGP will return in six weeks for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.