Bagnaia wins end-to-end in the Netherlands; leader falls

Francesco Bagnaia scored a dominant victory in the Dutch MotoGP round at Assen, while leader Fabio Quartararo suffered his first retirement of 2022 after colliding with Aleix Espargaró.

Bagnaia made a lightning start to lead the pack into turn 1 from pole, while Quartararo dropped to third behind Aprilia's Espargaró, who managed to move up from fifth on the grid to second.

Quartararo was a man on the move as he seemed to enjoy a significant grip advantage over his title rival. The factory Yamaha rider opted to dive on the inside of the Spaniard at turn 5 early in the race.

However, disaster awaited Quartararo as he carried too much momentum into the corner, causing him to lose the front of his M1 - dragging himself and Espargaró into the gravel, leaving the latter in 15th while Quartararo abandoned after crashing for the second time in the same corner while running last.

That left Bagnaia ahead of VR46 rookie Marco Bezzecchi. The factory Ducati rider controlled his advantage for the rest of the race to finally take the checkered flag 0s444 ahead of his compatriot, who scored his first podium in the premier class.

Meanwhile, Maverick Viñales secured his maiden podium for Aprilia after passing Pramac Ducati's Jorge Martin and holding off Jack Miller - who was returning after an initial punishment for irresponsible riding in practice.

His task was made easier after the Australian escaped at the final chicane trying to snatch third place, creating a titanic battle on the final lap between the Ducati rider, KTM's Brad Binder and the flying Espargaró.

Binder tried to pass Miller at the final chicane, but Espargaró saw his chance and put his Aprilia between the two - a move that allowed him to score a remarkable P4 just 2s5 away from victory, having been well over eight seconds behind after his incident with Quartararo.

Binder therefore took fifth ahead of a frustrated Miller, while Martin dropped to seventh at the end. Espargaró's miraculous comeback means he cuts Quartararo's lead to 21 points before the (European) summer break, with Bagnaia 66 behind his 2021 rival.

Race standings: