Alex celebrates maiden MotoGP win

More than 220,000 Spanish fans poured through the gates at the Circuit de Jerez Angel Nieto to watch an in-form Marc Marquez (Lenovo Ducati) settle the demons from his debilitating crash of 2020.

But the script took its first unexpected turn when Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha) posted the lap of his life to snatch pole position from the eight-time world champ and teammate Pecco Bagnaia on Saturday morning.

The script was back on track on Saturday afternoon when Marc won the Sprint race in dominant fashion from Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) and Bagnaia. But what started as a drama-filled first couple of laps of the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix, ended with a first-time premier-class race winner when Alex Marquez crossed the line over two seconds clear to celebrate his maiden MotoGP victory.

It was Quartararo who grabbed the holeshot from Bagnaia and Marc Marquez, who struggled to get his GP25 cleanly off the line when the lights went out. Pecco muscled his way through on his teammate as Quartararo’s focus at the front was to avoid a repeat of the Sprint, where he found himself in the gravel just one lap in.

Behind him, it was Pecco versus Marc as the pair jostled four or five times for P2, even making contact at one point, as both of them narrowly avoided disaster when Alex Marquez overshot a corner and somehow managed to miss them both.

Bagnaia got the upper hand over his teammate as they chased the Frenchman at the front, Pecco fastest, with the two Gresini Ducatis of Alex and Fermin Aldeguer in fourth and fifth. But the script was ripped up again when Marc lost the front of his Ducati at Turn 8 on just lap three and crashed, sliding a long way into the gravel. He remounted and rejoined the race in 22nd place, some 20 seconds behind what was now a battle of four at the front.

Sensing an opportunity, Alex upped his pace and was past the factory Ducati of Bagnaia just one lap later, setting his sights on Quartararo who was three tenths of a second ahead. A crash by Aldeguer on lap 6 put even more distance between the top three and the chasing pack headed by Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM), with Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati), Joan Mir (HRC) and Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) all looking to make the most of Marc’s rare mistake.

Knowing how rare opportunities are in MotoGP these days, Alex was determined to pass Quartararo’s Yamaha. He eventually did just that at the end of the straight to start lap 11, with Pecco just four tenths behind. Over 1.3 seconds further back, Vinales got a sniff of the podium and posted a series of quick laps to try and get himself in podium contention for the second race in succession.

Marc, meanwhile, was making slow but steady progress through the field, regularly posting laps quicker than anyone else on circuit to do his best to limit the damage to the healthy championship lead he had at the start of the weekend.

Elsewhere, Aussie Jack Miller was going the other direction; from being well and truly in the fight for a top seven position on lap eight, before electrical gremlins eventually forced the Australian out of the race on lap 15.

By then, Alex had extended his lead over Quartararo out to 1.675sec, with the Frenchman doing an amazing job to hold the former Moto2 and Moto3 world champ at bay. Vinales had managed to reduce the gap to Bagnaia down to seven tenths of second, but the factory Ducati man was determined not to beaten by another non-Ducati.

Miller’s retirement elevated Marc to 17th, but the Spaniard was through on Augusto Fernandez (Pramac Yamaha) for 16th one lap later, while a crash from Franky Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46) out of sixth place the next time around meant the eight-time world champ was now in point-scoring territory.

With four laps to go, Alex was almost 2.4sec clear of Quartararo as Bagnaia had nothing for the Frenchman’s Yamaha, unable to get any closer than the three or four tenths that separated them all race.

Marc Marquez was still lapping as quickly if not faster than the race leaders, passing Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) for 14th with three to go, before taking 13th from HRC wildcard rider Aleix Espargaro and then even 12th from Alex Rins (Monster Yamaha) in the final corner of the final lap.

But the celebrations had already started for brother Alex who, after eight second-place finishes, was finally celebrating his maiden premier-class victory.

“To get the first one at Jerez is just amazing, amazing,” an elated Alex said in Parc Ferme.

Quartararo was back on the podium for the first time since the Indonesian Grand Prix in 2023, which he described as “super special”, and while Bagnaia banked a very important 20 points, he simply said, “I don’t like races like this”, as his 2025 struggles continue.

Vinales held on for fourth place ahead of Di Giannantonio, the Red Bull KTM pairing of Brad Binder and Pedro Acosta as well as rookie Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia), with Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) and Luca Marini (HRC) rounding out the top 10.

The result means Alex Marquez (140pts) now leads the standings for the second time this year, just one point clear of brother Marc (139). Bagnaia (120) lies in third, ahead of Morbidelli (84) and Di Giannantonio (63). Miller is in 16th overall on 19 points.

The series now heads to Le Mans for the French GP in two weeks’ time.