Francesco Bagnaia controlled proceedings from the outset to triumph in front of his home crowd at Mugello with a third consecutive MotoGP Italian Grand Prix win.
Enea Bastianini made an impressive overtake on Jorge Martin at the final corner on the last lap to seize second and hand the factory Ducati squad a memorable 1-2.
Bagnaia had qualified second behind Martin, but a three-place grid drop for impeding Alex Marquez in practice demoted him down the order to fifth place for the race.
However, that would transpire to be irrelevant as Bagnaia initiated a storming launch from the line to rise into the lead inside two corners, with Martin back in second.
The Italian had opted to enter Turn 1 on the outside line to move into second and then managed to ease past Martin’s Pramac to slot his blue-liveried Ducati into first.
The opening stages saw the leading quartet in the Riders’ Championship situated inside the top four spots, with Bastianini third and Gresini’s Marc Marquez in fourth.
Marquez was being held up behind Bastianini, though, and attempted an audacious move into Turn 1 on Lap 3, but the Spaniard ran wide and conceded third position.
Pedro Acosta spied a chance to displace his more experienced counterpart, but Marquez slammed the door shut on the lurking rookie rider on the GasGas KTM bike.
There were potential danger signs when smoke came from Marquez’s satellite Gresini bike down the start-finish straight on Lap 4, though those concerns soon went.
The next few laps would be processional as riders struggled to seek overtaking opportunities, with Bagnaia extending his lead to be six-tenths clear at the sharp end.
GasGas competitor Augusto Fernandez would become the race’s opening retirement as he ventured into the pits to exit with an unspecified problem on the sixth tour.
Meanwhile, Joan Mir would become the next to have his participation cut short on the next lap, though on this occasion it would be the Honda man crashing at Turn 1.
Back at the front, Bagnaia had edged his advantage out towards eight-tenths, with Martin beginning to become preoccupied with Bastianini and Marquez right behind.
However, Lap 10 would witness Martin start to cut that deficit to reduce it to five-tenths, while Honda’s woes continued with LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami down at Turn 12.
Behind the top five, Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli was continuing a much more impressive weekend as Maverick Vinales was unable to pass in the fight over sixth spot.
Martin’s charge on top spot would materialise to be shortlived as Bagnaia stopped managing his pace and pumped in a lap time that gave him eight-tenths on Lap 15.
Marquez had been growing frustrated behind Bastianini’s GP24, but with six laps remaining he made a critical overtake stick down into Turn 1 to secure third position.
Martin was insistent on ensuring Bagnaia couldn’t relent his speed late on, with an apparent minor error from the race leader narrowing the gap down to three-tenths.
As Bagnaia sought to retain his lead over Martin, his team-mate Bastianini made a block overtake on Marquez at Turn 10 to reclaim third spot on the penultimate lap.
Bastianini had preserved his rubber and now attached himself to Martin’s rear to be in position to execute an audacious move to bring his bike home behind Bagnaia.
Bagnaia took the chequered flag to claim a double win at Mugello for the second straight campaign, with Bastianini delivering a remarkable 1-2 to the Italian marque.
Bastianini’s exploits would also have implications on the championship, with Martin’s slump to third meaning Bagnaia has whittled the gap between them to 18 points.
Marquez’s podium streak ended as he classified fourth on his season-old Ducati bike. Acosta was a distant fifth, but he was the lead KTM bike once more on the road.
Franco Morbidelli recorded his best finish with Pramac to date to bring the bike home in sixth, while an overtake from Fabio Di Giannatonio took seventh from Vinales.
Alex Marquez made it two Gresini bikes in the points with ninth place, with Brad Binder on the KTM trailing back in 10th amid a subdued outing from the South African.
Aprilia’s Aleix Esparago settled for 11th as the Trackhouse team earned a double points finish, with Raul Fernandez ending the race in 12th and Miguel Oliveira in 14th.
Marco Bezzecchi recovered from as low as 17th at one point to sandwich the American squad’s riders, with Alex Rins at least bringing back a single point for Yamaha.
Both Jack Miller and test rider Pol Espargaro endured underwhelming outings for KTM as their lacklustre pace throughout saw them end up five seconds behind Rins.
Elsewhere, Fabio Quartararo also had a tough race in 18th place despite promising signs through practice, with LCR’s Johann Zarco the front-running Honda in 19th.
Once again, Luca Marini was circulating around towards the back of the field and he occupied the bottom two places along with Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori at Mugello.
