Bagnaia won in Assen and Quartararo shot Aleix back in fourth place

The last race before the Dutch GP holiday in Assen had it all, Pecco Bagnaia’s escape from the pole for his third win of the year, second place for rookie Bezzecchi, first place for the VR46 team in MotoGP, and the third for Maverick Viñales, his first with Aprilia and at the same stage where he signed his last with Yamaha, the third different brand he got to the podium.

But on the fifth turn the big shock of the theater took place at the Cathedral of Motorcycling itself when the first two classified in the World Cup were vying for second place. ‘El Diablo’ Quartararo made his first big mistake of the year and led Aleix Espargaró, who didn’t fall but still had to save the gravel fall and reunite. And he has already started to come back from 15th to 4th place thanks to a quick lap and cut 13 hit points from the Frenchman who was on vacation with a 21-point advantage. Unfortunately the 9 points lost to Barcelona were discounted in the remaining laps as Aleix could only be 12 behind.

Fabio Quartararo, Aleix’s neighbor in Andorra, stepped back into the Aprilia box to hug the Granollers ’box and apologize for ruining his career,“ I haven’t seen you yet, I would have lifted the bike ”, Aleix commented on Fabio. “You don’t have to blame yourself, you’re not at fault,” Fabio apologized as young Max Espargaró looked at the two of them and had a very serious gesture with his friend Fabio.

Bagnaia unbeatable from pole

Starting positions were maintained where Bagnaia was leading from the post, but in turn 1 Quartararo opened up and was overtaken by Martín and Aleix Espargaró, his first mistake of the afternoon to forget. The battle for second place and Bagnaia’s lightning start allowed Ducatista to take second place against Aleic who is already in T3. Bagnaia, with soft-hard, led the rest of the current ‘Big Three’ with a hook along with Espargaró and Quartaro, those with medium-hard, who had already brought down the rest of the group from the fourth lap.

Fabio’s wrong mistake

And on the fifth pass through turn 5, Fabio Quartararo made a mistake unlike him, he tried to overtake Aleix Espargaró and signed his first fall in this world championship, but he took the lead of the Granollers driver. fell, but he had an off-piste run that he saved and was able to reconnect in 15th, 8 “6 behind Bagnaia, while Quartararo got up and 24th with 26” missing and a missing aerodynamic appendage. , among other injuries.

Despite an attempt to pull back from the Frenchman by 15 laps from the end, his team convinced him to continue in case the flag to flag happens due to rain. But on reaching turn 5 the winner of the 2021 race and World Championship leader first fell from Yamaha and rose furious and lame.

If the two jump on him in less than half a second, Bagnaia finds himself almost a second ahead of Ducati Bezzecchi and Martín, and, more importantly, with the possibility of cutting them both off the board in a snap and minimizing his multiple mistakes 2022 – he broke fourth with 66 points from the Frenchman.

Maverick cut the tenth to tenth

And lurking in the two riders who are always specialists in giving their best at the end of the race, Maverick Viñales and Brad Binder, who are fighting for fourth place 1 “6 from the third box and reduced the distance from tenth to tenth with Martín 11 from the end Aleix Espargaró reached the top-10 and overtook Zarco and Mir in two corners to take the eighth, while Quartararo watched on the box screens the race Aprilia was doing on her return.

The first drops fall 10 from the end

And ten laps from the end where Bagnaia led 1 “4 to Bezzecchi, the managers unfurled the rain flag on the straight as well as the white flag to change bikes if it rained. Viñales caught up with Martín for the third place and momentarily eliminated two specialists like Binder and Miller, but the man from Madrid barely resisted and became the next target of a fiery Aleix Espargaró who was still the fastest on the track.Quartararo had the plenty of speed to fight Bagnaia for victory over Assen.

The two Aprilia became the reference in these conditions where the rain had not yet ended, Viñales threw himself over Bezzecchi for second place, even without specifically letting Miller want to get oil like at the Sachsenring when he was third. after committing a long lap penalty -in Assen for Mack’s self -obstruction- and Aleix had already harassed Martín in the sixth.

Aleix’s last chicane was huge

Of the two remaining, Miller had already overtaken Viñales, but he was long gone and there he won his well-deserved Maverick podium, thus compensating for the damage with a rear holeshot that caused him to lose the podium in Germany. And on so many final laps and in the spot where he did well with the pilots, the Cathedral’s last chicane, Aleix overtook Binder and Miller in one stroke to finish fourth.

As for the other Spaniards, the seventh Jorge Martín, the eighth Joan Mir punished by two hits at the start, the tenth Alex Rins, the 15th Alex Márquez on the day it was made official that in 2023 he will be a Gresini Racing driver and gets in a Ducati GP22. He retired due to his hand injury Raúl Fernández