Pecco holds off Bez for Dutch TT spoils 

One day after being stripped of the final podium place in the Sprint for exceeding track limits, Red Bull KTM’s Brad Binder made the very same mistake on the last corner of the 26-lap Assen TT, promoting Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team) to his first podium in 13 long races.

Up ahead it was Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) versus Marco Bezzechi (Mooney VR46 Ducati) with the young satellite rider very much the race favourite after topping every session of the weekend in Assen and taking the gold medal in the Sprint ahead of the factory rider.

But it was Binder who took the holeshot, looking to make up for his last-corner blunder 24 hours earlier, ahead of Bagnaia, Bezzechi, Espargaro and a fast-starting Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Ducati) who paid the price for a qualifying crash, starting down in 10th. Espargaro made contact with Marini at the start, snapping his right wing, leaving the determined Spaniard to battle with his RS-GP as well as his rivals.

The only rider in the top five to opt for the soft rear tyre in the hot conditions, Binder couldn’t make the early break he would have hoped for with Bagnaia passing him for the lead on lap three, just before a mistake by Sprint third-place getter Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha) took out himself and Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Ducati) early on.

Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing Team), who was quick all weekend, began finding some pace. Looking menacing, a series of fastest laps had moved the Spaniard up to fifth place at the start of lap four, but it ended in the gravel a few corners later as he became the fourth rider in as many laps to crash out, registering his fourth DNF in five races in the process. Aussie Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM) was the first, having gained five places from 12th on the grid in just a lap and a half, but also sliding out of contention early on.

Bezecchi had joined the fight for the lead by lap five and Espargaro had a 1.2sec advantage over Marini behind him, but it was now Martin who was the man on the move in fifth place, albeit three seconds behind the leading trio. A mistake from Marini at the chicane on lap six dropped him five places down the order as the leading five settled into their race rhythm.

Bezecchi posted a series of fast laps as Binder continued to pile the pressure on Bagnaia, with the Mooney VR46 rider struggling to find a way past the KTM of Binder. With 10 laps to go – the time in the race when Bagnaia usually clicks into another gear – Bezecchi eventually muscled his way through on the South African and put his head down in a bid to reel in Bagnaia’s one-second advantage at the front.

Espargaro put in his best lap of the race, too, to get himself within half a second of Binder and with five to go Bez had taken a couple of tenths out of Bagnaia, and was over three tenths clear of Binder, who now had the Aprilia of Espargaro looking for a way through. Martin, likewise, had reduced the gap to the Aprilia man to under a second as five riders all looked to book a place on the Dutch TT podium.

Martin was half a second quicker than both Espargaro and Binder on lap 24 but neither the South African or the Spaniard were about to give up their hard-fought positions. Bagnaia rode the final two laps with the resolve that won him the title last year to celebrate back-to-back wins at the iconic circuit ahead of Bezzechi, and while Binder held off Espargaro for third at the line it wasn’t to be for the KTM man. And it very nearly wasn’t to be for the Aprilia rider either, beating Martin to the line by just 0.006sec.

Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) was an eventual sixth, despite serving a long-lap penalty late on for exceeding track limits, ahead of Marini and Taka Nakagami (LCR Honda) who would have finished seventh if not for a long-lap penalty of his own. Franco Morbidelli (Monster Yamaha) and Augusto Fernandez (GasGas Tech3) rounded out the top 10.

Bagnaia (194) now heads into the five-week summer break with a 35-point advantage over Martin (159). Bezzechi (158) is just one point adrift in third ahead of Binder (114) and Zarco (109). The series resumes in Silverstone for the British Grand Prix on 6 August.