Alex Marquez denied brother Marc Marquez a debut VirtualMotoGP victory at the final turn of the nine lap race at Misano, while home hero Valentino Rossi scored a debut podium.
Alex- who took the start from second on the grid- got a fast getaway to leap ahead of pole-man Fabio Quartararo initially, before being relegated to third after Marc out-braked himself at Turn 1 and pushed his Honda team-mate wide.
Alex was then forced to try and recover the ground lost to now leader Quartararo, who was quickly pulling away from Marc.
The reigning world champion let Alex through on the back straight soon afterwards though, deciding to instead focus on scoring a maiden podium rather than fight and risk a crash.
Alex was then thrown a lifeline on lap four as Quartararo tucked the front of his Petronas SRT Yamaha at Turn 8, the Frenchman dropping to second as a result.
Alex was able to shake off the advances of the rapidly closing Quartararo over the next few laps, the Honda man placing his RC213-V everywhere Quartararo tried to pass, although things came to a head with just a few tours remaining.
The newly-signed factory Yamaha man made an aggressive move as the duo exited Turn 5, causing them to collide and crash-allowing Marc through into a slender lead.
The delayed pair chased down Marc over the remaining laps, with all three covered by a second with just a few corners left in the contest.
Quartararo braked as late as he dared into the tight Turn 14 hairpin, but tucked the front and crashed out once again, leaving the fight for victory between the Marquez brothers.
It looked like Marc could potentially wrap up a debut VirtualMotoGP win, but Alex was not to be denied as he threw his Honda down the inside at the final turn, crucially running Marc out wide and costing him speed on the exit, allowing him to take the chequered flag first by just 0.725.
Rossi meanwhile bagged a maiden podium finish as he snuck past Quartararo due to his spill, crossing the line just a few tenths clear.
Fifth went the way of Suzuki’s Joan Mir, who managed to hold off a recovering Maverick Vinales.
Vinales had been taken out in a heavy Turn 1 crash in addition to going down on his own as he tried to fight back through the field later on, the factory Yamaha pilot still managing to head the struggling Francesco Bagnaia for sixth as the Italian struggled to make up the time lost from starting at the back after suffering in qualifying.
Takaaki Nakagami was eighth on his virtual LCR Honda machine, while Lorenzo Savadori took ninth for Aprilia ahead of Esteve Rabat who completed the top ten.
