Ducati Lenovo Team’s Marc Marquez on Saturday maintained his perfect start to the MotoGP season when the polesitter won the Americas Grand Prix sprint to remain undefeated and extend his lead in the championship.
Marquez had become the first rider to claim eight poles at a single circuit when he set the fastest time in qualifying earlier on Saturday, and a fifth win in five sprints and races this season moved Marquez to 86 points.
Marquez’s brother and closest competitor, Alex Marquez, of Ducati satellite team Gresini Racing finished second once again, less than a second behind, to move up to 67 points, while factory Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia completed the podium.
Photo: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / USA Today
“It was super close, but it was a nice fight there against Pecco [Bagnaia] and Alex, but in the end, when I put my rhythm I tried to control the gap,” Marc Marquez said.
Despite starting on the second row, Bagnaia stormed off the line from sixth to take the lead into turn one and then again on turn three, before Marc took the place back as the two Ducati teammates aggressively battled for position.
Marc Marquez nearly lost control of his bike on lap one, allowing Alex Marquez and Bagnaia to overtake him, but the polesitter was in no mood to finish third, immediately regaining the lead with a daring overtake to set the tone for the sprint.
However, once Marc Marquez had clear air in front of him at the Circuit of the Americas, he peeled away with his brother in tow, as they put some distance between themselves and Bagnaia in third.
Alex Marquez tried to catch up, but his brother was in a league of his own.
“To be second here in Texas is like a win. If you’re second after Marc, it’s like a win because he’s on another level,” Alex Marquez said.
ANFIELD BLUES: Kylian Mbappe arrived at Anfield on a run of 21 goals in 17 games, but he managed just three attempts in the match, none of them hitting the target Kylian Mbappe has been nearly unstoppable this season, but he hit a roadblock in their UEFA Champions League match at Anfield on Tuesday. For the second year running, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget at Merseyside as Liverpool won 1-0. Mbappe looked a shadow of the player who has been tearing defenses apart all season. “We were lacking that threat in the final third,” said Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, without naming Mbappe individually. The FIFA World Cup winner for France rarely looked capable of finding a breakthrough against a Liverpool team who have been so defensively fragile for much of the
LOCAL SUCCESS: In the doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets Elena Rybakina on Monday punched her ticket to the WTA Finals last four with an impressive 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over second seed Iga Swiatek in round-robin play in Riyadh. After cruising past Amanda Anisimova in her opener on Saturday, Rybakina claimed her second win of the week to guarantee herself top spot in the Serena Williams Group. Anisimova on Monday rallied back from a set and a break down to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in her all-American battle with seventh seed Madison Keys, who has been eliminated from the competition. “Madi was playing so well, it was quite a battle out there,”
Erling Haaland on Sunday scored twice to propel Manchester City up to second in the English Premier League with a 3-1 win over AFC Bournemouth. The Cherries started the day in second thanks to the longest unbeaten run in the English top flight, but Andoni Iraola’s side were undone by the scintillating form of the Norwegian striker, who took his tally to 13 Premier League goals in 10 games. Haaland’s relentless streak is maintaining City’s title challenge as they reduced the gap to leaders Arsenal back to six points and edged one point ahead of Liverpool, who they face at the weekend. “Important
For almost 30 minutes, Vitomir Maricic did not take a breath. Face down in a pool, surrounded by anxious onlookers, the Croatian freediver fought spasming pain to redefine what doctors thought was possible. When he finally surfaced, he had smashed the previous Guinness World Record for the longest breath-hold underwater by nearly five minutes. However, even with the help of pure oxygen before the attempt, it had pushed him to the limit. “Everything was difficult, just overwhelming,” Maricic, 40, told reporters, reflecting on the record-breaking day on June 14. “When I dive, I completely disconnect from everything, as if I’m not even there.
RSS