Francesco Bagnaia won his third consecutive Dutch MotoGP race, edging out championship leader Jorge Martin and closing the gap to 10 points in his bid for a third consecutive world title.
Bagnaia’s factory Ducati teammate Enea Bastianini completed the podium at Assen on Sunday.
Poleman Bagnaia led from the start with a flawless race, capping off a memorable weekend after also taking victory in Saturday’s sprint race.
After holding a horse riding masterclass, the Turin rider declared: “It’s incredible.
“I had to push from the start and I suffered a bit with the rear tyre. But lap after lap I improved.”
“We were very fast, very precise… I’m very satisfied,” added Bagnaia, who broke the Assen track record twice over the weekend.
The victory at Assen once again highlighted Ducati’s dominance in the constructors’ championship, giving them their fifth consecutive complete podium finish.
Bagnaia’s race was never in doubt as both he and Martin opened up a significant lead over the rest of the field in the opening laps of the race.
Throughout the race, Martin remained within five seconds of the leader over the 4.5km (2.8-mile) course. He made one last push to catch Bagnaia, but was unable to get close enough to challenge him, eventually trailing the Italian at the finish line by 3.68 seconds.
“At the end of the race I had nothing left. I did my best to catch it,” Martin said.
The real battle was for third place, which turned into a titanic struggle between Bastianini, Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales, Marc Marquez on Gresini Ducati and Fabio Di Giannantonio on VR46 Ducati.
After a series of ping-pong races, Bastianini passed Vinales with four laps to go and held third place ahead of the Spaniard until the checkered flag.
The riders now prepare for next week’s German MotoGP at the Sachsenring.
Martin now leads the 2024 MotoGP World Championship standings with 200 points after eight of 21 rounds. Bagnaia follows with 190 points, followed by Marquez with 149.
