MotoGP: Bezzecchi denies Marquez world title as motorsport returns to Qatar

Ducati’s Marquez had a chance to retain his crown on Sunday after winning the sprint race but needed his closest rival, Jorge Martin, to finish without any points. However, the Italian, who is third in the championship standings, essentially has no chance of winning his first world title because that gap is the same as the number of points that remain available. Bezzecchi was undone on Saturday by crashing out of the sprint race when trying to overtake Marquez in a desperate attempt to put pressure on the Spaniard.

“It feels amazing,” Bezzecchi said after he bounced back to win on Sunday. “I’m very happy. It was the performance we deserved Martin couldn’t quite emulate his heroics from Saturday when he shot up from 11th on the grid to nearly overtake eventual winner Marquez before eventually finishing third.

But racing this weekend for the first time since suffering a broken right wrist, Martin was given a warm round of applause from his team after keeping the title race alive.