For a long time, it looked as though Pedro Acosta would storm onto the podium at the Le Mans Grand Prix, but in the end, it was again not enough for the KTM factory rider. After finishing fourth in the sprint, the Spaniard was pushed back from second to fifth place in the MotoGP main race, while teammate Brad Binder (South Africa) crashed three laps from the end and retired.
It was a weekend of contrasts in the premier class, with Aprilia making history: Jorge Martín (Spain) won the Grand Prix after also taking the sprint, teammate Marco Bezzecchi (Italy) followed in second place, and Ai Ogura (Japan) completed the brand’s first-ever triple victory in MotoGP in third.
In the championship standings, Bezzecchi now leads Martín by the narrowest of margins with 128 points to 127. Notably, Jorge Martín had already won both the sprint and the race in Le Mans in 2024.
The weekend ended bitterly for Marc Márquez (Spain/Ducati), however. The world champion suffered a highside crash in the sprint and sustained a fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his right foot. The Spaniard requires surgery – a shoulder problem will also be treated during the procedure. Márquez will miss next week’s home race in Barcelona.
Jonas Folger experienced a difficult comeback: the 32-year-old stood in for Spaniard Maverick Viñales at Tech3-KTM, crossed the line 16th and last in the main race with a deficit of around 70 seconds, and had already crashed in lap two of the sprint.
