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Qatar MotoGP: Andrea Dovizioso defeats Marc Marquez for win

Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso beat Marc Marquez to win the opening round of the 2019 MotoGP season by just 0.023 seconds in a typically frantic Qatar Grand Prix

In a repeat of last year's Losail race, Dovizioso fended off a last-corner lunge from Honda man Marquez for victory - having been at the head of a multi-rider pack for much of the distance.

LCR rider Cal Crutchlow made it two Hondas on the podium, overcoming Suzuki's Alex Rins for third, while Valentino Rossi recovered from 14th on the grid to complete the top five.

Rossi's polesitting Yamaha team-mate Maverick Vinales could manage only seventh, behind the second factory Ducati of Danilo Petrucci.

A 10-rider pack formed at the head of the field early on, as Dovizioso made the best getaway out of the front row starters to take an early lead.

The extent to which Dovizioso was moderating his pace was shown by rookie Fabio Quartararo - who had to start from the pitlane after stalling on the grid - lapping over a second quicker than the leaders in the early stages.

Rins, moving up from 10th on the grid, made an early attack on Dovizioso on lap five of 22, but was unable to stay in front for more than a lap - with the pair swapping the lead multiple times in the opening half of the race.

Dovizioso regained the advantage decisively at half-distance, with Marquez replacing Rins as the Ducati rider's main challenger when the Suzuki rider ran wide and dropped fo fourth.

Rins mounted a fresh offensive to repass Petrucci and Marquez to move back into second on lap 15, but on lap 20 he made another mistake and outbraked himself at Turn 1.

That left the fight for victory to be decided between Dovizioso and Marquez, who passed his adversary at the Turn 4/5 double right-hander on the penultimate lap to lead.

But Dovizioso was able to retake the lead at Turn 1 at the start of the final lap, and rebuffed a subsequent attack from the reigning champion at Turn 10.

Marquez made one final attempt at wresting back the lead at the last corner, but was unable to block Dovizioso's line and was outdragged by the Italian on the run to the finish line.

Crutchlow, gifted third by Rins' late mistake, held on for third by a tenth of a second ahead of the Spaniard.

Rossi was able to tag on the back of the lead group in the early stages, and as the race entered its latter stages the seven-time premier class champion slowly progressed up the order.

With six laps to go he dispatched team-mate Vinales, then picked off Suzuki rider Joan Mir next time around and on lap 20 he moved up to fifth at Petrucci's expense.

Petrucci hung on for sixth, having opted for soft tyres front and rear (the top five all used mediums), followed by Vinales - who dropped to seventh on the opening lap and never really recovered.

Mir was the best of the rookies in eighth, only dropping away from the leaders in the closing laps, while Takaaki Nakagami and Aleix Espargaro completed the top 10.

Franco Morbidelli, who ran ahead of Rossi early on, slumped to 11th in the final reckoning in the first race outing for the new Petronas SRT squad, ahead of lead KTM man Pol Espargaro.

Jorge Lorenzo picked up three points for 13th on his Honda race debut, followed by Andrea Iannone and Johann Zarco. Quartararo finished just outside the points in 16th.

Only three riders failed to finish a relatively incident-free race, with Pramac Ducati pair Francesco Bagnaia and Jack Miller both dropping out.

Miller's GP19 shed its seat unit on the second lap, but the Australian persisted for half the race before finally fading and pulling into the pits to retire.

Aprilia wildcard Bradley Smith was the one and only crasher.

Race result

Pos Rider Team Laps Gap
1 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 22 42m36.902s
2 Marc Marquez Honda 22 0.023s
3 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda 22 0.320s
4 Alex Rins Suzuki 22 0.457s
5 Valentino Rossi Yamaha 22 0.600s
6 Danilo Petrucci Ducati 22 2.320s
7 Maverick Vinales Yamaha 22 2.481s
8 Joan Mir Suzuki 22 5.088s
9 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda 22 7.406s
10 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 22 9.636s
11 Franco Morbidelli Petronas Yamaha 22 9.647s
12 Pol Espargaro KTM 22 12.774s
13 Jorge Lorenzo Honda 22 14.307s
14 Andrea Iannone Aprilia 22 14.349s
15 Johann Zarco KTM 22 15.093s
16 Fabio Quartararo Petronas Yamaha 22 15.905s
17 Miguel Oliveira Tech3 KTM 22 16.377s
18 Karel Abraham Avintia Ducati 22 22.972s
19 Tito Rabat Avintia Ducati 22 23.039s
20 Hafizh Syahrin Tech3 KTM 22 43.242s
- Bradley Smith Aprilia 20 Retirement
- Jack Miller Pramac Ducati 12 Retirement
- Francesco Bagnaia Pramac Ducati 9 Retirement

Riders' standings

Pos Rider Points
1 Andrea Dovizioso 25
2 Marc Marquez 20
3 Cal Crutchlow 16
4 Alex Rins 13
5 Valentino Rossi 11
6 Danilo Petrucci 10
7 Maverick Vinales 9
8 Joan Mir 8
9 Takaaki Nakagami 7
10 Aleix Espargaro 6
11 Franco Morbidelli 5
12 Pol Espargaro 4
13 Jorge Lorenzo 3
14 Andrea Iannone 2
15 Johann Zarco 1
16 Fabio Quartararo 0
17 Miguel Oliveira 0
18 Karel Abraham 0
19 Tito Rabat 0
20 Hafizh Syahrin 0


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