Marc Marquez praised for entering the ‘red zone’ to fight off Marco Bezzecchi at the San Marino Grand Prix

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Marc Marquez won his 11th Grand Prix of the 2025 MotoGP season at the San Marino Grand Prix, fending off attacks from Marco Bezzecchi as the two riders looked to be in a class of their own at the front of the pack.

Marquez was quickly onto the back of Bezzecchi at the drop of the lights in San Marino, jumping up from fourth to second at turn one. The two riders engaged in a scintillating display of racing in the ensuing 27 laps, with the championship leader coming out on top.

The Italian rider was hoping to complete a perfect weekend at Misano before the Spaniard rained on his parade. Bezzecchi won his first Sprint race of the season on Saturday, after taking pole position in qualifying earlier that same day.

After staying patient behind the Aprilia for the opening 12 laps, Marquez’s opportunity came when Bezzecchi went wide into one of the corners, allowing the Ducati rider to take the lead of the race.

READ MORE: MotoGP San Marino Grand Prix results as Marc Marquez inches closer to 2025 title with victory at Misano

Michael Laverty praises Marc Marquez for staying cool under pressure from Marco Bezzecchi

After taking the lead of the race, Marquez still had it all to do. Bezzecchi refused to let go of the opportunity to win his home race as he traded fastest laps with the 32-year-old.

The gap between the two riders ebbed and flowed as neither one wanted to lose out on a victory, finishing over seven seconds ahead of Alex Marquez in third place.

Speaking as part of TNT Sports’ coverage of the San Marino Grand Prix, former MotoGP rider Michael Laverty was full of praise for the current championship leader, saying, “He didn’t look like a rider under pressure.

“The way he rode today answered everything that Bezzecchi threw at him. When Bezzecchi set that lap record, three or four laps to go, Marc could respond every time. It was two athletes at the very top of their game, who were in the red zone for pretty much 75% of that race.

“They may have settled in for those early laps, but then they pushed. They hit every apex. One mistake from Bezzecchi was the race change because they hit every single marker, hitting those lap times at the end of the race. It was such a display.”

Jorge Lorenzo pinpointed a ‘critical’ issue of Marquez’s following his crash during the Sprint race at Misano. The Spaniard had clearly worked on the issue during Sunday morning’s warm-up session to ensure it didn’t happen again in the race.

READ MORE: Marc Marquez names the three riders ‘destined’ to be the ‘future’ of MotoGP with Jorge Martin

Marco Bezzecchi was unfortunate not to secure his second victory of the 2025 MotoGP season

Following his first victory of the season at Silverstone, Bezzecchi was extremely unfortunate to miss out on his second victory of the season, considering how hard he worked for it.

The Italian was out of breath in his post-race comments to the media in front of the podium, “I think that besides the victory [at Silverstone], this was maybe the best race of my life.

“I was super competitive all weekend, pole position, Sprint win and second place to Marc, who is, at the moment, the strongest [rider] on the grid. I’m very happy.

“I gave my all, and I’m destroyed to try and give the fans the best show that I could.”

Bezzecchi was also unfortunate not to have claimed the lap record for the fastest lap in racing conditions.

Marquez set it with his blistering effort of a 1:31.290 on the 25th lap of the race, with Bezzecchi setting a time just two hundredths off his benchmark on the following lap.