Francesco Bagnaia was struggling with the tires and his pace dropped off the cliff allowing Marc Marquez to close in and have a go. At first, Marquez tried to have a go on lap 21 at turn twelve but he was covered by Bagnaia. 

Two laps later, Marquez made his move in turn five in a similar fashion to what he did yesterday to Jorge Martin. But this time, it ended badly for both of them

With a similarly audacious late pass on Bagnaia, Marquez got ahead but Bagnaia tried to overtake by going into the small inside gap left by Marquez but it was on the blind spot of the Spaniard, thus resulting in a collision.

Both riders ended up on the floor, with Bagnaia retiring and Marquez remounting to finish in P17. Marquez felt that Bagnaia was suffering and was a bit optimistic, trying to defend his fifth position.

“It was a racing accident, both riders crashed,” said Marquez about the incident. “It was bad for both of us not to get points.”

“I was calm, I had waited for my moment, [but] Pecco was suffering,” he pointed. “I would have overtaken him shortly after, I was faster. He crossed paths and we touched.”

“For me, if there is contact on the first lap or fighting for a podium or a victory, it can happen. This year I use my head more. What I can say is that we were fighting for a fifth or sixth place, they were a point or two more, maybe Pecco was too optimistic.

Despite suffering a no score today, Marquez felt that his weekend overall was positive as he demonstrated the pace of the leaders and the three crashes that he suffered were down to him learning the bike.

“This weekend I was very fast, I crashed three times, but not because I was pushing too much but due to mechanisms that I still have to understand. Even in the warm-up, I slipped when I lost my foot on the footrest at turn three.”

“As for the advantage of starting from the front, I’ve been saying this for two to three years, and not just me. When you’re behind the tire pressure goes through the roof.”

When asked to give his thoughts on Pedro Acosta, who took his maiden podium today, Marquez was all praise:

“Thoughts on Acosta? He made a lot of overtaking, he rides instinctively, it’s nice to see from behind.”