MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

Assen got cooler and cloudier on Sunday morning and it created a moody buildup for the premier class race but, regardless of track conditions, Pecco Bagnaia proved once again that he is the new master of Assen. The reigning world champion was untouchable from start to finish and took the chequered flag three and a half seconds ahead of rival Jorge Martin, the runaway victory being his 23^rd for Ducati – matching Casey Stoner's record. Martin was the only competitor who stood a slight chance of challenging but even that was only for one lap so the Spaniard settled for a lonely second and limiting the damage in the championship standings. Having started 10^th on the grid, Enea Bastianini pulled another rabbit out of the hat and climbed onto the final step of the podium. 

Behind Bagnaia’s impeccable start, Martin quickly put his grid penalty behind him and was immediately threatening Maverick Viñales for second place, ahead of the Marquez duo. By the time Martin picked up the chase on the opening lap, Bagnaia was already enjoying six tenths of breathing room at the front, while Marc Marquez took advantage of a slight mistake from Viñales to claim third and try to catch up with the Pramac man ahead. After a pretty anonymous Saturday, Pedro Acosta was having much more fun in the initial stages of Sunday’s race, the rookie joining the top 5 by the third lap, demoting Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio, while Brad Binder, Bastianini and Raul Fernandez completed the early top 10. 

Although Martin didn’t waste much time in his recovery, the hot pace set by Bagnaia didn’t really allow him to get within striking distance over the first handful of laps. As the duo started trading fastest laps, Marc Marquez was left one second behind and with an early track limits warning to keep him on his toes. Viñales comfortably kept up with his compatriot but a big yellow threat was catching up with him, Di Giannantonio making quick work of the group behind to join the podium battle by lap 6. The Italian had already slid past Viñales by the end of that lap and had Marquez in his sights. The Gresini rider seemed stuck as his deficit to the leaders had grown to over two seconds by the time he oddly rolled out the red carpet for Di Giannantonio to get past on lap 8. However, not even the Italian’s hottest pace could make an impression on the duo at the front, where Bagnaia was still cruising one second ahead of Martin, whose advantage over the third-place battle inflated to three seconds. 

As the race approached its halfway point, Bagnaia and Martin were the only riders setting 1:31 lap times and seemed pretty much untouchable by the group led by Di Giannantonio, now four seconds back. While Marquez and Viñales were still biding their time behind the Italian, the likes of Acosta and Bastianini were declaring intentions of joining the party. The two seemed fully in third place contention with 10 laps remaining, the Italian’s habitual late race pace particularly threatening, but the rookie couldn’t keep that pace going and Bastianini demoted him at turn 5 with nine laps remaining. 

Back at the front, Martin seemed to have waved the white flag going into the final 10 laps, allowing Bagnaia to escape two seconds ahead and enjoying his sizeable advantage over the pursuit. Whatever Marquez’s reasoning for pretty much waving Di Giannantonio through early in the race, he was yet to attempt to reclaim third going into the closing stages of the race. The move was more accidental than anything, when Di Giannantonio went off line at De Bult, but Marquez wasn’t tempted to lead the pursuit and it was Viñales who took control of the group. The shenanigans also allowed Bastianini to bridge the gap and the Italian immediately attacked Di Giannantonio for 5^th. Di Giannantonio’s pace seemed to have run its course as he started dropping back into Acosta’s clutches, only briefly progressing back into 5^th when Bastianini’s move on Marquez at the first corner ran the Spaniard wide and into his neon clutches with six laps remaining.  

While Bagnaia and Martin were cruising to the chequered flag, Bastianini stepped onto the provisional podium with a move on Viñales at the final chicane with five laps left. The Aprilia man stayed within striking distance of the rampant Ducati, helped by Marquez and Di Giannantonio putting pressure once more with some late race pace. The duo didn’t really need to mount much of an attack in the end, as a final lap mistake from Viñales allowed Marquez to breeze past at Ramshoek and claim 4^th place. The Aprilia man managed to defend 5^th from Di Giannantonio at the final chicane but was demoted back to 6^th for exceeding track limits on the final lap. Late drama for Acosta saw him crash out of a lonely 7^th place on the last lap, handing that position to Binder, while Alex Marquez, Raul Fernandez and Franco Morbidelli completed the top 10. 

Although Martin kept as close as possible to his main rival, he still sees his advantage in the world championship standings cut to 10 points, while Marquez’s challenging Sunday drops him 51 points back. 

UPDATE: A 16-second penalty due to low tyre pressure drops Marc Marquez from 4th to 10th in the race, rubbing more salt into the world championship wound. 

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