The king of MotoGP has finally been dethroned. Marc Marquez’s streak of 10 grand prix victories in a row came to an end at the Grand Prix of Czech Republic on Sunday, as Dani Pedrosa claimed the title with an excellent ride.
Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi finished second and third, respectively, with Marquez crossing the line in fourth on an off day for the Spaniard—as MotoGP revealed:
Here’s how they finished on an eventful day of racing in Brno:
Though Marquez was starting at pole position in the Czech Republic, a shaky start saw his chances of performing his usual wire-to-wire victory blown out of the water.
The Spanish sensation found himself in sixth after the first few turns with the Ducatis starting brightly and Lorenzo setting the early pace.
The two-time world champion simply flew around the course in the early stages, setting a new circuit record in the process—per MotoGP:
While Marquez managed to creep up to third place, that’s as good as it got for the 21-year-old, who finished over 10 seconds behind Pedrosa.
Patience was the name of the game for Pedrosa in Brno, and while Lorenzo was looking good at the front, the 28-year-old always looked in a good position to strike.
And that’s exactly what he did on Lap 5 of 22, going inside him on the corner to lead the pack.
It was a lead that Pedrosa never surrendered after that, and while Lorenzo kept within touching distance of his countryman, there was little he could do as the Honda man put himself top of the podium.
While Marquez’s dominance of MotoGP is now over, the Honda team’s certainly isn’t, as they revealed via Twitter:
That dominance is echoed in the general classification standings, too, as victory for Pedrosa saw him keep his place in second behind Marquez, as we see below:
How exactly Marquez will recover from not being on the podium will be on everyone’s lips as the British Grand Prix comes around in a fortnight, but you can guarantee that he’ll be more determined than ever to take his grand prix crown back.
Pedrosa’s victory showed that Marquez is indeed mortal, but with hunger and desire to be a champion once again, Silverstone may well be in trouble next time around.
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