Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1536769
retake control, but a mistake at the final corner saw him drop behind again down the near mile-long front straight. Alex Marquez then took the lead with a move on his brother at turn three, though Marc soon responded and reclaimed first place on lap nine. Behind them, chaos erupted as Franco Morbidelli collided with Maverick Vinales in a bid for fourth that sent the Spaniard tumbling through the gravel trap and saw Morbidelli handed a long-lap penalty for the infringe - ment. It got worse for Morbidelli, who fluffed his LLP entry and ran over the white paint, neces- sitating another LLP as a result. On the plus side for the VR46 Ducati team, Fabio Di Giannan- tonio was moving into conten- tion after a sluggish start and had his eyes set on Bagnaia's third place. Bagnaia's pace started to fade dramatically, and Di Gi- annantonio seized third with a decisive pass at turn six on the penultimate lap. Within half a lap, he'd put over a second on the hapless Bagnaia and started closing rapidly on Alex Marquez, only to come up 0.194 of a sec - ond short at the flag. Marc Marquez took a rela- tively untroubled win, his 93rd Grand Prix victory across all classes and his first at Mugello in 11 years. He was followed home by his little brother, Alex, and the flying Di Giannantonio, who salvaged some home pride for Italy. "At the start of the race, I tried to manage tire wear so I wouldn't compromise things too early," Marc Marquez said. "Every time I tried to control the situation, Pecco came back on the attack. He was braking very hard and very late, while I was focusing more on corner speed. When Alex took the lead, I knew it was time to start pushing because he had a really strong pace. Track conditions were quite tricky today, and maintain - ing a very fast rhythm was risky. If anyone had closed the gap, VOLUME 62 ISSUE 25 JUNE 24, 2025 P77 our test riders. We're on the right track to understand." Binder revealed that the bike, which was a late-braking weapon in years gone by, now requires a different approach. "It's clear now that the way is to keep speed, keep [it] rolling," he said. "If you can do that, then you can make the time. It's not super-important to brake into the grandstands, because if you kill the speed, then it doesn't come back." FRANCO'S PEACEFUL MESSAGE As is now customary after Valen- tino Rossi's yearly exploits in the past, Mugello was the scene of a series of one-off helmet de- signs for the Italian riders at their home round. None caught the eye quite like Franco Morbidelli's, which bore the peace symbol in the center, with the words "3 days of peace and full throttle" emblazoned on the back. The Italian was at his philosophical best when describing the idea behind the helmet. "I wanted to bring a message on my helmet this weekend. We're dealing, again, with a very 'earthquake-y' period [in the world], so it's nice to remember the important things. And peace should be the base of everybody's way of living. I wanted to bring that ahead in a way that Aldo [Aldo Drudi, the helmet designer] made unbeliev- ably in a racing style. The line of the helmet is beautiful. But for sure the message is that you and me, we are together. That's the message." Briefly... Ducati debuted a stunning deep maroon colorway for Marc Marquez (93) and Bagnaia (63), but only one of them would end up on the podium on Sunday.