Spanish rider Maverick viñales on a Yamaha won the first stage of world Cup racing.
Due to rain the start of the new season was delayed for 40 minutes in the first meters of the race the leaders of the race broke Andrea Iannone, and the debutant of Joann MotoGP Zarco unexpectedly slipped into second place. Closed top-3 last year’s champion Marc Marquez. Soon Zarco led the peloton, and Marquez easily bypassed Iannone.
Zarco could wipe out a sensational victory, if not for the error, which cost him the race. After gathering Zarco leadership went to Dovizioso, who for 10 laps before the finish broke away from his pursuers for a second.
Drop Iannone brought Viñales in second place – the Spaniard on a free track quickly caught up and walked Dovizioso. Meanwhile Rossi in the fight for the podium and walked confidently away from Marquez. Yamaha in the opening race of the season smashed Honda, and Ducati’s third consecutive podium in Qatar.
Race results:
1. Maverick Viñales (“Yamaha”)
2. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) +0.461
3. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) +1.928
4. Marc Marquez (Honda) +6.745
5. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +7.128
6. Alex Espargaro (“Aprilia”) +7.661
7. Scott Redding (“PRAMAC Ducati”) +9.782
8. Jack Miller (“Marc VDS Honda”) +14.486
9. Jonas Folger (“Tech 3 Yamaha”) +14.788
10. Alex Rins (“Suzuki”) +15.069
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