Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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teammate for third on the final turn, while Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM) shot up from 10th on the grid to sixth after a series of early moves on Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha), Bagnaia and Martin. The top eight were soon down to seven after Di Gi - annantonio crashed out at turn 10 the fourth time around, raising questions over why he had switched from Ducati's 2024 aero package to its '26 fairing on race day. Up front, there was a hold - ing pattern as Marc bided his time. On lap eight, the top seven were together, run - ning at the same pace. But Alex's crash at turn 13 on the ninth lap was the spark that BEZ KO'D Marco Bezzecchi's recent run went from bad to worse when he highsided out of qualifying at turn seven, fracturing his left collarbone and forcing him to withdraw from the GP. The Italian was already in considerable pain after his 120-mph Assen spill and said he "had pain everywhere." It means the Italian will have scored just 13 points from an available 48 in the past four rounds." He added, "When you are not 100 percent physically, the mentality and the speed is still there, but physically it's not going with you. At that point, sometimes you make mistakes that you don't expect." Bezzecchi has flown to Italy to have surgery on the collarbone. NEW GRID ASSESSED MotoGP's latest new grid proce- dure was tried for the first time on Saturday. In the wake of first-turn incidents in Barcelona and Hun- gary, additional spacing was added between each grid slot. Previously, first place was three meters ahead of second, which was three ahead of third. There was a nine-meter difference from third to the start of row two. Now, there is a four-meter difference between each space on the same row. The distance between rows has increased to 12 meters. "Definitely it's safer," said Pedro Acosta after the Sprint. "You arrive to the first corner making a good start, and you can pass the guys of your line. Maybe to try to pass the guys in the line in front is much difficult. You arrive to the first corner, and you have only one guy by your side or maybe two, but not five." Brad Binder said, "Terrible for me! Even if you get a good start, Briefly... ROUND 11 / JULY 11-12, 2026 SACHSENRING CIRCUIT / SACHSENRING, GERMANY MOTOGP I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP P94 Raul Fernandez (25) was rock solid in Germany, going 5-3 over the weekend.