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/1545630
ROUND 10 / JUNE 26-28, 2026 TT CIRCUIT ASSEN / ASSEN, NETHERLANDS ROAD RACE I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP P68 For the second time in its history (and the past six races) Aprilia locked out the podium. But as with successes in Austin and Mugello, there was a sense it could—and should—have been better. Ogura's job had been made a good deal easier when Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) crashed out at Ramshoek at 120 mph. "We had the chance to have four Aprilias in front, so it's a pity not to prove what it could be possible to achieve," Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola said coldly. The result was a new championship leader, and the championship top five covered by 40 points. And to everyone's surprise, Ogura is one of them. MotoGP Sprint Aprilia's superiority was clear from Friday after- noon, the RS-GP offering unparalleled stability through the fast turns seven and 15. Any notion Ducati could compete was dispelled in Q2 as Martin took a maiden pole in Aprilia black. Ogura, Bezzecchi and Fernandez backed him up—a first Aprilia qualifying top four in history. With holeshot devices now banned (see Briefly), Marc Marquez (Lenovo Ducati) had attempted to pile on the pressure on Bezzecchi. "He should get the double," said the reign - ing champ on Friday. Perhaps that worked, as the championship leader fluffed the start, losing 25 RAUL FERNANDEZ 1ST/2ND MOTOGP "It was almost the perfect weekend," Fernandez said. "In yesterday's qualifying, we fought for the pole, we won the Sprint, and today we fought for the win until the last five/six laps, so for sure I'm very happy. I think last Sunday we lost too many points, but right now we are on a very good way, so I'm very happy. For sure today we will analyze how Ai did the last part of the race, but I'm happy overall." 63 FRANCESCO BAGNAIA 7TH/DNF MOTOGP "Surely I wasn't expecting to finish the weekend with a retirement," Bagnaia said. "After the Sprint, I had a very positive feeling ahead of the full- distance race, as I knew we could be competitive. My start wasn't too bad; I tried to stay in touch with the leaders from the get-go and recover some po- sitions while battling within the group. But I wasn't riding the way I wanted: I was struggling to slow the bike down and get it stopped. Just after the halfway point, the situation became difficult to manage—too difficult to think about continuing the race." MYOWNRACE Aprilias to the fore as Jorge Martin (89) gets the jump in the Sunday GP from Ogura (79) and Marco Bezzecchi (72). A few moments later it would go very wrong for Bezzecchi, spectacularly crashing out of the fourth-gear Ramshoek corner at over 130 mph.

