Bagnaia lands in the gravel at 100th MotoGP start

World champion Francesco Bagnaia missed the chance to win the double anniversary victory and also to jump back to the top of the rankings in his 100th MotoGP start. In front of his home crowd, the Italian retired from the Emilia Romagna Motorcycle Grand Prix in Misano with his Ducati after a crash seven laps before the end, and his team-mate Enea Bastianini took the 100th victory in the premier class for the manufacturer from Bologna instead.

Bagnaia’s compatriot won the 14th race of the season after 27 laps ahead of his Spanish brand colleague Jorge Martin, and Ducati celebrated a quadruple victory. Martin extended his lead in the World Championship ahead of Bagnaia from four to 24 points (341:317).

Bagnaia, who has been competing in MotoGP since 2019, won the start after his sprint victory on Saturday, but quickly had to let Martin and Bastianini pass. Then the defending champion slid into the gravel trap. Bastianini overtook Martin on the final lap with a tough maneuver.

This means that Bagnaia (27) still has 25 victories after 100 starts; only four other riders have achieved more up to this mark in MotoGP: Valentino Rossi (Italy/54), Marc Marquez (Spain/40), Casey Stoner (Australia/33) and Jorge Lorenzo (Spain/29).