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Miller suffers pain in Spain as Bagnaia turns up heat

Staff WritersReuters
Italy's Francesco Bagnaia (right) steers his Ducati as he leads the pack at the Catalunya MotoGP. (AP PHOTO)
Camera IconItaly's Francesco Bagnaia (right) steers his Ducati as he leads the pack at the Catalunya MotoGP. (AP PHOTO) Credit: AP

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati's reigning champion, won MotoGP's Catalunya Grand Prix to close the gap on championship leader Jorge Martin, who finished second, while Gresini Ducati's Marc Marquez was third despite starting 14th on the grid.

It was, however, a disappointing afternoon for Australian KTM rider Jack Miller, who was one of three competitors not to finish. Miller, who finished seventh in Saturday's sprint race, chose the soft rear tyre for the grand prix and crashed out early on.

Marquez repeated his heroics from Saturday's sprint when he finished an astonishing second from 14th, keeping polesitter Aleix Espargaro at bay until the chequered flag and finishing five-hundredths of a second ahead to take third.

Bagnaia had crashed on the final lap of the sprint when he was leading but his third victory of the season was redemption for the Italian, who is now 39 points behind Martin.

Bagnaia said: "Honestly, I was angry about yesterday knowing I had the potential to win. When I saw riders struggling with the front today I started to push more."

Marquez said: "I took the soft rear tyre and I knew it was risky but it was the only solution to attack from the beginning.

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"I didn't make a good start but I made it step by step, I knew the race was long. When I overtook Aleix, I was able to defend the position."

With three straight podiums, Marquez is now third in the championship, two points behind Bagnai

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