Portimao (Portugal): World champion Francesco Bagnaia won Sunday’s season-opening Portuguese MotoGP after a costly mistake by pole-sitter Marc Marquez.
Ducati star Bagnaia coasted across the line ahead of Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales in the Algarve sunshine to follow up his win in MotoGP’s inaugural sprint 24 hours earlier.
Marquez crashed and wiped out home favourite Miguel Oliveira on lap three to leave the way clear for Bagnaia to get his championship defence off to a perfect start.
Bagnaia, whose teammate Enea Bastianini missed the race after injury in the sprint, leaves Portimao with a maximum 37 points from the first of the 21-race season.
“That’s the start me and my team wanted,” the Italian told motogp.com. (AFP)
