Vinales profits from Bagnaia crash to claim Misano win as title fight closes up

MotoGP’s leading four riders are split by only four points at the halfway mark of the revised 2020 season after Maverick Vinales claimed victory at Misano in the wake of Francesco Bagnaia’s crash.

Vinales lost the lead from pole to the fast-starting Ducati of Jack Miller, but unlike last weekend was able to hold station in second before coming back at the Pramac rider at Turn 4 to re-establish himself at the head of the field.

Bagnaia quickly got ahead of team-mate Miller and then closed down Vinales’ leading gap across the opening laps, eventually getting close enough to snatch the lead away after the Yamaha rider ran deep into Turn 5 just prior to a quarter distance.

Bagnaia edged clear and established a comfortable buffer over Vinales, though the Yamaha rider began to creep closer, setting up the prospect of a close finish between the pair.

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But disaster struck Bagnaia as he lost the front of his GP20 into Turn 6 and retired, which handed Vinales a large lead over the remaining riders, which he preserved to pick up his first win of 2020.

Bagnaia’s exit elevated KTM’s Pol Espargaro to second but rear-grip struggles allowed Petronas SRT’s Fabio Quartararo and the Suzuki of Joan Mir to close him down.

Quartararo struggled to make a move owing to the power deficit of his M1 and that allowed Mir to make his move, relieving Quartararo of third, while the Suzuki ace then worked his way past Espargaro to claim the runner-up spot.

Quartararo eventually grabbed third but he was handed a long-lap penalty for a track limits infringement.

The Yamaha rider had only the last lap in which to serve his sanction and his failure to do so meant he was awarded a three-second time drop.

Quartararo thus greeted the chequered flag third, with Espargaro fourth, but their positions were swapped immediately post-race, with the Yamaha youngster furious at the demotion.

Tech 3’s Miguel Oliveira recovered from a lowly grid spot to take fifth place while Takaaki Nakagami also made gains to record sixth place.

Repsol Honda’s Alex Marquez enjoyed his strongest ride to date as he came seventh, holding off a quiet Andrea Dovizioso, who retained a one-point advantage over Vinales and Quartararo in the ultra-tight title battle.

A week on from his maiden win at the same venue Franco Morbidelli recovered from an incident with Aleix Espargaro on the opening lap to take ninth, while Danilo Petrucci completed the top 10.  

Only three other riders reached the finish in what was a race of attrition, Johann Zarco bagging 11th on his Avintia Ducati ahead of Alex Rins and Bradley Smith on their Suzuki and Aprilia machines respectively.

Home hero Valentino Rossi crashed out after losing the front of his M1 at Turn 4 on the second lap, initially rejoining the fray before retiring later on.

Miller meanwhile was forced to pull into the pits early on after his Desmosedici was struck down with mechanical woes, with Iker Lecuona the other high-profile retiree as the rookie crashed out from sixth in the latter stages.