Marc Marquez started from pole position at the Spanish Grand Prix, but was unable to convert that into a victory, coming out second-best in a late duel with Francesco Bagnaia.

Marquez made the holeshot, but hesitance born from his crashes in the previous two Grands Prix caused him to lose the lead to Francesco Bagnaia at the final corner of the first lap. To get there, Bagnaia had put together a great first lap, passing both Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin around the outside in braking for turn six.

A mistake from Bagnaia at the same corner he took the lead on lap two meant Jorge Martin got to the front, and he stayed there until he crashed at turn six on lap 12.

This promoted Bagnaia into the lead, and immediately the intensity of Marquez grew. He was now behind Marco Bezzecchi in third place, but he reclaimed second at turn six on lap 14.

The chase was now on for Marquez, and he forced Bagnaia to drop his pace into the 1:37s. On lap 21, they finally engaged, Marquez using his superior corner speed through turn eight to set up a pass into turn nine. Bagnaia, as he did in turn five at Portimao, squared Marquez off and tried to beat him to turn 10. He didn't quite do that, but he rubbed Marquez' shoulder with his front tyre, pushed him out of the line, and held the inside to turn 11. A lap later, Marquez tried again at the same corner, but Bagnaia's response was cleaner this time.

Bagnaia then set a new lap record on lap 23 at 1:37.449, and this somewhat broke the #93. The gap never came under half-a-second again, even with a personal best lap from Marquez on the final tour.

Bagnaia took his second win of the season, and a critical one after the Portuguese and Americas rounds saw the title momentum slip away from him.

Marco Bezzecchi completed the podium for the first time in 2024, just over three seconds clear of Alex Marquez who beat Enea Bastianini to fourth. Bastianini himself was fifth, ahead of Brad Binder, the top non-Ducati and two seconds clear of Fabio Di Giannantonio. Miguel Oliveira was the top Aprilia in eighth, ahead of Texas winner Maverick Vinales, and Pedro Acosta completed the top 10.

Full MotoGP results from the Spanish Grand Prix are below.