took the lead ahead of the two
Aprilias. His lead didn't last long
Vinales stormed through to take
the lead at turn four. Espargaro
was also through soon after-
wards and so was Oliveira, and
Aprilia briefly held the first three
places for the first time in its
MotoGP history.
flagged and as Bagnaia lay still
on the ground, fears of severe leg
damage looked to have basis.
Bagnaia was taken to hospital
but was amazingly free of frac
-
tures, major bruising being the
only complaints.
At the restart, everyone was
on their best behavior as Martin
front and slamming into Johann
Zarco. The domino effect then
saw Alex Marquez, Fabio Di Gi
-
annantonio (Gresini Ducati) and
Marco Bezzecchi all go down in
the melee.
All the riders made the restart
except for Bastianini, who was
diagnosed with a fracture of the
malleolus (ankle) and a complex
fracture of the second metacar
-
pal of the left hand.
Worse was to come as less
than one second later, Bagnaia,
who had made the dream start
from pole, was launched into
orbit in one of the biggest high-
sides seen since Marc Mar
-
quez's in Indonesia last year.
The world champion's Des-
mosedici threw him off and right
into the path of Brad Binder, who
had no course but to run straight
over his legs. The race was red
ROUND 11 / AUGUST 1-3, 2023
CIRCUIT DE BARCELONA-CATALUNYA / BARCELONA, SPAIN
MOTOGP I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
P68
Formation flying as the two
Aprilia's clear off at the front.
Sunday Grand Prix
