Marc Márquez and the Ducati Lenovo Team dominate the Sprint in the Michelin Grand Prix of France. Francesco Bagnaia crashes out of the encounter

• Marc takes his sixth consecutive win in the Saturday race. He is the first rider in the Sprint era to achieve this goal
• Alex Márquez and Fermín Aldeguer (Gresini Racing Team) complete an all-Ducati podium in second and third

The Ducati Lenovo Team took yet another Saturday win courtesy of Marc Márquez’s 13-lap Sprint success at Le Mans, in what is the sixth event of the season. Francesco Bagnaia crashed out of the race during the second lap.

Márquez retained second place at the start before taking the lead in the central part of the race and then pulling away towards his sixth win out of six Sprint races contested so far this year. Bagnaia had a good start from sixth place on the grid and moved up two positions before losing control of his Ducati machine – at turn three – during the second lap.

The Ducati Lenovo Team will be back in action tomorrow morning at 9:40 local time (GMT +2) for the warmup session, with the 27-lap Grand Prix Michelin of France race getting underway at 14:00.

Marc Márquez (#93 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 1st
“I’m happy. The feeling aboard the bike is always very positive and, step by step, I’m improving some more. I felt good today: I was patient enough and took my time in the first two-three laps, when it looked like Quartararo was pulling away, and this was a moment of the race in which it was key to manage tyre wear the best way. The important thing was to stay right up there without making any mistake, in a race that was characterised by very strong lap-times and frenetic pace.”

Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – DNF
“I wasn’t pushing a lot as it was early in the race. Unfortunately, the feeling with the front-end is still not at the level I’d like, so we need to keep working. I’m trying to ride in a different way, and it’s going quite well, but in this area I’m unfortunately a bit more at the limit. We have been very competitive so far here at Le Mans, except in qualifying – but it was my mistake – and the feeling in the race was good. We’re not giving up and we’ll try to improve each and every time; despite the challenges, our championship situation is good.”