Marc Marquez cruises to Germany MotoGP victory, enters title race

Marc Marquez won the Germany MotoGP Grand Prix on Sunday as the Spaniard equalled Italian legend Giacomo Agostini's record of 10 premier class wins on a single circuit.

The seven-time world champion started on pole as he glided to a dominant win at the Sachsenring, 1.996sec ahead of Aprilia-Trackhouse's Ai Ogura in second with the Japanese rider's Spanish teammate Raul Fernandez completing the podium.

Marquez, on his Ducati, also won Saturday's sprint race to further cement his reputation as the 'King of the Ring', as he moved to 190 points at the halfway point of the 22-race season.

"(I'm) super, super happy. You know, it was a special weekend," the 33-year-old said.

"I was super concentrated because... if I want to have any chance to win the championship, I need to attack here.

"It's what we did these last races. And yes, super happy to achieve 10 victories in MotoGP class here in the Sachsenring."

He has reignited his title challenge just before the summer break and is now firmly in contention to retain his crown, having closed the gap to 18 points behind his compatriot Jorge Martin, who finished fifth for Aprilia on Sunday.

Spain's Pedro Acosta of KTM finished fourth, ahead of Martin, with Italian Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia in sixth after a fascinating tussle with the championship leader in the final laps.

In the early exchanges, Marc Marquez was locked in somewhat of a battle with his brother Alex Marquez, who started in second place, until the Ducati-Gresini rider slid off his bike on turn 13 after 10 laps.

But from that moment on, anything other than a record-equalling victory for Marc Marquez never seemed on the cards.

Ogura climbed to second in the overall standings on 194 points after battling past his teammate Fernandez to take second as the pair, who both started on the second row, took advantage of Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio's early falls.

"I'm so happy about today, (it's turned out to be a) better Sunday than I expected," Ogura said after Aprilia bikes took two of the podium spots at a track usually dominated by Ducati.

Fernandez echoed these sentiments, saying he "never thought that I would be able to make a podium here in Sachsenring, especially in MotoGP".

Aprilia's Marco Bezzecchi missed Sunday's Grand Prix after fracturing his collarbone during qualifying on Saturday -- the Italian now lies fourth in the standings.

On Sunday, Bezzecchi underwent successful surgery in Italy, his team said, adding they were hopeful the 27-year-old would return for the next Grand Prix. 

MotoGP will return after the summer break for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, beginning August 7.

nf/ea/iwd

© Agence France-Presse