2026 MotoGP Round 4 Spanish Grand Prix Sprint: Marc Márquez crashes, changes bikes and wins a dramatic flag-to-flag race

       On 25 April 2026, just when it seemed Marc Márquez had won in every imaginable circumstance, he produced another extraordinary victory in the Sprint at his home circuit of Jerez. Teammate Francesco Bagnaia finished second from tenth on the grid, while Franco Morbidelli came from eighteenth to join the number 93 rider on the podium.

       Marc Márquez made a perfect start from pole. Johann Zarco held second as the pack behind began to battle. Álex Márquez quickly climbed to third, followed by Jorge Martín in fourth and Fabio Di Giannantonio in fifth.

       Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi endured a nightmare start, apparently with a visor tear-off caught in his rear wheel. He dropped sharply and began fighting back from sixteenth as the contest ahead intensified. Marc Márquez started to build a lead, but his pursuers stayed close. Martín first attacked Álex Márquez, only for the number 73 rider to respond strongly at Turn 1 and force him off the track. Martín also looked down at his overheating front brake disc, with the braking system no longer slowing the bike effectively.

       Álex Márquez then passed Zarco. With ten laps remaining, rain began to fall from the dark sky and white flags were shown, allowing riders to change bikes. Bike swaps had occurred in Sprints before, but never this early in the lap count. If the rain became heavy enough, changing bikes would be decisive.

       The track was not yet wet enough, however, and Zarco and Di Giannantonio fought an entertaining battle for third. As the rain continued, Di Giannantonio secured the position, while Raúl Fernández worked his way up to fourth.

       Zarco became embroiled in a battle with the KTM riders. Pedro Acosta attacked first, with Enea Bastianini and Brad Binder close behind. When Acosta’s move on Zarco failed, Bastianini seized the opportunity to pass Acosta and follow the Frenchman closely.

       Meanwhile, Márquez’s lead was steadily shrinking as Álex Márquez’s Gresini bike closed right onto the leading Ducati Lenovo machine. He followed and waited for a chance, briefly dropping back before attacking with six laps remaining. The number 73 rider drew alongside at Turn 9 and took the lead, while Di Giannantonio rapidly closed on both.

       Heavy rain then transformed the Sprint. Marc Márquez was the first to hit trouble, sliding off at the final corner as the rain intensified. It became the race’s turning point: he picked up the bike and went directly into the pits to change machines. The other riders ahead stayed out, while Binder led a group into the pits at the same time.

       Álex Márquez temporarily led Di Giannantonio, with Binder heading the group that had changed bikes and only four laps remaining. The question was whether wet tyres would deliver the advantage. Then Álex crashed at the same corner where his brother had fallen in the previous year’s Grand Prix. The rain had turned into a downpour, making wet tyres essential. The remaining riders pitted and Binder temporarily took the lead, but the South African then also crashed. Amid the confusion, the red Ducatis of Bagnaia and Marc Márquez surged towards the front, passing Gresini’s Fermín Aldeguer, who had gambled on staying on slicks.

       Bagnaia briefly led Márquez in the wet, but the number 93 soon passed him. Having led, crashed, dropped as low as seventeenth and then returned to first, Márquez completed an extraordinary recovery to win. Bagnaia finished second for his second consecutive Sprint podium, while Morbidelli, among the first to pit, took an astonishing third. Despite his crash, Binder finished fourth, a result that would have attracted attention in any ordinary race.

       Di Giannantonio was fifth, Raúl Fernández sixth and Fabio Quartararo seventh, all scoring points. Quartararo’s fellow Frenchman Johann Zarco and Luca Marini took the final two points-paying positions.