Sachsenring MotoGP: Marc Marquez defeats Cal Crutchlow and leads points

Valentino Rossi had to settle for third place on a day when erstwhile championship leaders Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo were both sidelined by injuries.

Both Marquez and Crutchlow fought back through after losing ground off the line, when they had fallen from first and second to fourth and seventh respectively.

Rossi led out of the first corner but was passed by local hero Stefan Bradl on lap one.

CRT star Aleix Espargaro had jumped to third at the start and even had a look at taking Rossi for second on lap two.

Espargaro then made it as hard as possible for Marquez to pass him, before the Honda got ahead and chased down the leaders.

Consecutive final-corner passes on laps five and six got Marquez past first Rossi, then Bradl to lead the race.

He duly began to edge away as Rossi and the recovering Crutchlow worked on Bradl.

Both eventually made it, with Crutchlow subsequently attacking Rossi and squeezing into second at half-distance.

Marquez's lead was nearly three seconds at that point, but Crutchlow - despite his injuries from his Saturday crashes - began to hunt him down.

Despite Crutchlow's best efforts, Marquez did not let him get any closer than 1.5s, as the Spaniard claimed the second win of his MotoGP rookie season.

Rossi kept clear of Bradl to take another podium for Yamaha in third.

Gresini's Alvaro Bautista and Crutchlow's Tech 3 Yamaha team-mate Bradley Smith completed the top six.

Espargaro was ultimately edged back to eighth, just behind Ducati's lead runner Andrea Dovizioso.

Results - 30 laps:

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike               Time/Gap
 1.  Marc Marquez      Honda                 41m14.653s
 2.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha            +1.559s
 3.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha                   +9.620s
 4.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda               +13.992s
 5.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda           +21.775s
 6.  Bradley Smith     Tech 3 Yamaha           +25.080s
 7.  Andrea Dovizioso  Ducati                  +30.027s
 8.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia           +30.324s
 9.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                  +45.355s
10.  Michele Pirro     Pramac Ducati           +47.142s
11.  Hector Barbera    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki    +47.824s
12.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia           +48.523s
13.  Colin Edwards     Forward FTR-Kawasaki    +54.428s
14.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Suter-BMW        +1m00.323s
15.  Claudio Corti     Forward FTR-Kawasaki  +1m05.530s
16.  Michael Laverty   PBM-Aprilia           +1m09.153s
17.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  +1m15.601s
18.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Aprilia       +1m19.683s
19.  Lukas Pesek       Ioda-Suter-BMW            +1 lap

Retirements:

     Bryan Staring     Gresini FTR-Honda        27 laps
     Yonny Hernandez   PBM Aprilia                1 lap