Marc Marquez extended his stranglehold on sprint races in 2025 with a clinical victory at Assen, marking his ninth Saturday win of the year.
The Ducati Lenovo rider held off a determined challenge from younger brother Alex, securing yet another Marquez family 1-2.
The 13-lap dash began with Fabio Quartararo firing from pole and grabbing the holeshot into Turn 1, finally looking like a real threat against the Ducati armada.
But his lead was short-lived. Both Marquez brothers swiftly dispatched him on Lap 2, and moments later, Marco Bezzecchi also sliced past into third.
Quartararo’s slide down the order continued. Struggling to maintain pace, he was soon under pressure from Francesco Bagnaia and Fabio di Giannantonio.
Bagnaia briefly reclaimed fifth on Lap 6 after an earlier pass attempt by Diggia, but the VR46 rider made it stick next time through the final chicane.
Quartararo’s race unraveled completely on Lap 11, crashing out of sixth place after losing the front at Turn 10.
Quartararo has gone down at Turn 10! 💔💥#DutchGP 🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/1yR1eYpzUY
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 28, 2025
By that stage, the battle at the front had narrowed to a tense duel between the Marquez brothers.
Alex clung onto Marc’s tail through the middle stages, but a small gap opened up on Lap 12, and that was enough for the championship leader to close it out unchallenged.
Behind the front three, Diggia’s strong mid-race pace carried him to fourth, just over a second off the podium.
Though sprint business as usual saw his race pace fade from the start, Bagnaia held on to fifth.
Maverick Viñales claimed sixth on the KTM, holding off Fermin Aldeguer, who was one of two riders handed a late long lap penalty for repeated track limits violations.
Pedro Acosta, the other penalised rider, had crossed the line eighth but was dropped to ninth after failing to serve his penalty in time, promoting Franco Morbidelli into the top 8.
A bitter one for @37_pedroacosta, who gets a 3s penalty for failing to serve his LLP ⚠️#DutchGP 🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/YhGi5luPe1
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 28, 2025
The sprint’s opening lap also saw quite abit of contact in the midfield.
Joan Mir crashed out while Raul Fernandez was forced through the gravel after getting caught up in a squabble between the VR46 riders.
His sprint compromised and with a gap to the next rider in front of more than ten seconds, the Spaniard decided to retire his RS-GP into the pits.
