Fabio Di Giannantonio wins after (double) big scare

It ends with the triumph of Fabio Di Giannantonio an afternoon of very high tension at Montmelò, the scene of the Grand Prix of Catalonia 2026, the sixth round of the season of the MotoGP World Championship. The Roman rider of the VR46 team took the second victory of his career in the premier class, the first after Lusail 2023, imposing himself in a race disrupted by two red flags and decided only in the final laps of the final act.

The “Diggia” was involved in spite of himself in the maxi crash that caused the first interruption of the race on lap 12: Alex Marquez violently crashed into the KTM of Pedro Acosta, suddenly slowed down by a technical problem, resulting in a carambole in which the Italian was also involved. Despite the fall, Di Giannantonio managed to return to the pits with his Ducati without any physical consequences, then regularly taking part in the restart.

After a second red flag caused by the incident at the restart involving Luca Marini, Francesco Bagnaia and Johann Zarco (the only one forced to retire after being transferred to the medical center, as well as Alex Marquez), the VR46 rider changed pace in the final of the third segment of the race. His overtaking of Acosta was decisive, paving the way for him to take his first win of the season.

Behind him finished, at least provisionally, Spaniards Joan Mir on a Honda and Fermin Aldeguer on a Ducati Gresini. Fourth was Francesco Bagnaia on the factory Ducati, although both he and Mir appear to be under investigation for a possible tire pressure irregularity. In any case, in the worst case scenario, Pecco would retain a valuable fifth place.

Complicated but still positive day for Marco Bezzecchi: the Aprilia rider, although far from the best, took advantage of the misadventures of others to collect important points in view of the world championship, especially thanks to the zero of his teammate and rival Jorge Martin, who ended up on the ground after a contact with Raul Fernandez. Bitter ending also for Acosta, who crashed at the last corner following a contact with Ai Ogura: the Japanese rider was penalized three seconds, thus slipping from fourth to ninth place.

Final order:

1 Fabio Di Giannantonio Ducati
2 Joan Mir Honda +1.250
3 Fermin Aldeguer Ducati +1.466
4 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati +4.320
5 Marco Bezzecchi Aprilia +4.679
6 Fabio Quartararo Yamaha +4.876
7 Luca Marini Honda +4.971
8 Brad Binder KTM +5.137
9 Ai Ogura Aprilia +5.377 (penalized 3″)
10 Diogo Moreira Honda +6.839
11 Alex Rins Yamaha +6.916
12 Franco Morbidelli Ducati +7.160
13 Maverick Vinales KTM +10.147
14 Jack Miller Yamaha +10.452
15 Toprak Razgatlioglu Yamaha +11.808
16 Raul Fernandez Aprilia +15.066
17 Augusto Fernandez Yamaha +16.245
18 Pedro Acosta KTM +16.345
19 Jorge Martin Aprilia +56.513