Martin takes the double in the French Grand Prix

The 2026 French Grand Prix was full of intrigue and spectacle, and there’s now just one point separating the top two riders in the MotoGP World Championship. As he has done so often this season, it was Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) who grabbed the holeshot from the middle of the front row when the lights went out to start the 27-lap contest. The day before, however, it was his teammate Jorge Martín who stole the headlines after a lightning start that saw him go from eighth to first and who went on to win his 18th Sprint gold medal.

There was no repeat of his start-line heroics on Sunday though, finding himself down in seventh place on the opening lap as Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM) slotted in behind Bezzecchi ahead of Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha), Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati), pole sitter Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) and Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Racing) all ahead of Martín.

Reigning world champ Marc Márquez (Lenovo Ducati) was already recovering from surgery to repair a broken right foot after he highsided out of seventh place in the final stages of Saturday’s Sprint. And with the opportunity taken to perform more surgery on his right shoulder at the same time, it’ll be at least Round 7 before the Spanish star is back on track.

A bad weekend for the Márquez family, Alex Márquez (Gresini Racing) was in the gravel trap on just the second lap, as an in-form Bagnaia was the fastest rider on circuit, passing Quartararo for third place two laps later. And while Bezzecchi was slowly but surely eking out a comfortable lead at the front, Bagnaia also found a way through on Acosta and was up to second place to start lap seven.

With almost nine-tenths in hand over Bagnaia and Acosta, both Di Giannantonio and Martín passed Quartararo, who had Ogura and Joan Mir (HRC) for company in the battle for sixth. An impatient move by Ogura saw both Quartararo and Mir through on the Japanese rider, as Di Giannantonio and Martín exchanged a handful of moves on each other for fourth place, which dropped the pair some 1.7 seconds behind Acosta in third.

With 10 laps chalked off, Bezzecchi’s lead over Bagnaia had been reduced to half a second, while Martín finally shook off Di Giannantonio and was looking to reduce the gap to Acosta. The gap was 1.5 seconds on lap 13, 1.1 seconds on lap 15, and on lap 16 – the same lap that Bagnaia lost the front of his GP26 and slid out of victory contention – Martín was within half a second of Acosta, the pair promoted to second and third thanks to Bagnaia’s mistake.

Bagnaia’s error afforded Bezzecchi some much-needed breathing space, with more than one second now separating him and Acosta, who had his work cut out keeping the 2024 world champ at bay. Di Giannantonio, now some 1.8 seconds behind Martín, also had his hands full in the form of an Aprilia, the RS-GP of Ogura, who had not only found a way back through on Quartararo and Mir, but who had stretched away towards the now leading Ducati in fourth.

Four-tenths quicker than the race leader, Martín’s move on Acosta for second place came on lap 18, when 1.6 seconds separated the two teammates and the top two riders in the championship. That gap was down to half a second by lap 22, and Ogura was now all over the rear wheel of Acosta’s KTM as the Japanese star looked to make it an all-Aprilia top three. That move came the same time around on lap 23 when just 0.3 seconds separated the two factory Aprilias ahead.

There was nothing between the pair for the 24th lap but the inevitable came with a trademark Le Mans move at Turn 3 the 25th time of asking, when Jorge Martín – who on lap 10 was some 2.8 seconds behind Bezzecchi – snatched the lead from his teammate and instantly created a gap of half a second which he held to the chequered flag.

There was just 0.477s in it at the line, with Ogura a further 0.8 seconds back to score not only Aprilia’s first-ever podium lockout, but his maiden podium finish and the first Japanese rider to do so since 2014.

Acosta did everything he could to hold off Di Giannantonio for fourth place, but a block pass by the Italian on the last corner of the final lap relegated the Spaniard to fifth, ahead of Quartararo, Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) and Raúl Fernández (Trackhouse Racing). Late-race crashes by Joan Mir (HRC) and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) saw Fermín Aldeguer (Gresini Racing) and Luca Marini (HRC) round out the top 10. Aussie Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) finished 15th for a single world championship point.

The result means Jorge Martín is now just one point behind teammate and title rival Marco Bezzecchi, with 127 points to 128. Di Giannantonio (84 pts) moves up one place to third but is 44 points down on Bezzecchi. Acosta (83 pts) drops one spot to fourth, while Ogura moves up two places to fifth (67 pts). Miller (1 pt) is on the board for the first time this season; he’s down in 21st place.

The series now heads back to Spain for Round 6’s Grand Prix of Catalunya, with practice kicking off this Friday.