MotoGP Portimao: Bagnaia breaks away for double, Marquez breaks home hearts

Ducati Lenovo’s Pecco Bagnaia has gotten his 2023 MotoGP World Championship title defence off to a magnificent start with a formidable Portuguese GP win at Portimao.

Having made history with victory in Saturday’s inaugural MotoGP Sprint Race, the reigning champion made sure of a maximum haul of 37 points with a smooth run to victory for the factory Ducati team.

His calm, measured afternoon in stark contrast to the early chaos just behind him when Marc Marquez triggered a big crash that eliminated himself, Miguel Oliveira and Jorge Martin.

Maverick Vinales ran Bagnaia close for the first half of the race before settling for second place, the Aprilia rider having been the big beneficiary of the race-defining accident at the start of lap three.

Having been dumped out down to fourth place behind Miguel Oliveira and Jorge Martin on the opening lap, Marquez’s attempts to respond on lap three led to him mis-judging his braking into Turn 3.

After clipping the back of Martin’s Pramac Ducati, Marquez could do nothing to prevent his Repsol Honda scraping past the Pramac bike before T-boning the unawares RNF Aprilia of Oliveira. A sickeningly hard body slam that threw both Marquez and Oliveira off their bikes, Martin stayed upright but forced wide to drop down the order.

Leaving Bagnaia out front, though Vinales chased hard he’d eventually settle for second, with Marco Bezzecchi completing the podium in a lonely third as the highest-placed satellite rider.

Johann Zarco won an almighty fight for fourth after taking two positions on the final lap, ahead of Alex Marquez, Brad Binder and Jack Miller.

Full Portuguese MotoGP Race Report to follow