Bagnaia wins TT van Assen in MotoGP, World Cup leader Quartararo drops out after crash | NOW

Francesco Bagnaia won the Assen TT on Sunday. The 25-year-old Italian MotoGP rider cashed in on his pole position. Defending champion and World Cup leader Fabio Quartararo had a dramatic race and retired halfway through.

In front of more than 104,000 spectators, Bagnaia got off to an excellent start from pole position, while Quartararo had just lost a spot and was overtaken by Aleix Espargaró, who had started from fifth.

Quartararo tried to increase the pressure on the top two, but the defending champion shot off the track after a few laps while trying to overtake Espargaró, who also lost many positions due to the incident.

Behind leader Bagnaia, Marco Bezzecchi climbed into second place and Jorge Martín moved up to third. Espargaró and Quartararo were meanwhile sentenced to a make-up race, in which limiting the damage was the maximum achievable. However, things went from bad to worse for Quartararo, who crashed again halfway through and had to give up the fight.

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Bagnaia rides unthreatened to seventh MotoGP victory

Bagnaia’s leading position was never under pressure. The Italian convincingly held off Bezzecchi and the other drivers had been put at a relatively large disadvantage early on. Maverick Vinales, meanwhile, had advanced to third place, a position the Spaniard would retain.

For Bagnaia it is his seventh win in MotoGP and his first in Assen. Earlier, the Italian triumphed in Moto3 and Moto2 in Drenthe. Quartararo remains the leader in the World Cup standings despite his dramatic race. Number two Espargaró completed his catch-up race in Assen in fourth place, bringing him thirteen points closer to the World Cup leader.

MotoGP is now due for a summer break. The season continues on August 7 with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.