MotoGP Valencia GP: Alex Marquez dominates sprint from Pedro...

Gresini rider Alex Marquez claimed a commanding victory in the final sprint of the 2025 MotoGP season at the Valencia Grand Prix, as polesitter Marco Bezzecchi struggled to fifth.

Marquez seized the lead from Bezzecchi at the start and held off an early charge from KTM rival Pedro Acosta to score his second consecutive sprint win, and the third of the campaign.

Acosta couldn’t keep up with Marquez in the second half of the race, but bagged yet another podium finish in second, with Fabio di Giannantonio finishing third.

At lights out, Bezzecchi got a poor launch from pole position, allowing Marquez to grab the lead into Turn 1 and Acosta to snatch second from him at the following corner.

The Aprilia rider continued to tumble down the order on the soft front tyre, settling into sixth behind the Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo at the end of the opening lap.

This allowed Marquez and Acosta to run away at the front, but there was no repeat of their epic duel from Portimao, with the former pulling out a lead of over a second by lap 6 of 12.

Pedro Acosta, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

The 29-year-old eventually cruised to the chequered flag by 1.1s, as his world champion brother Marc Marquez watched on from the pits after returning to the paddock for the first time since his Indonesia crash. Acosta took the chequered flag in second place, leapfrogging his Ducati counterpart Francesco Bagnaia to fourth place in the riders’ standings.