MotoGP legend Marc Márquez delights home crowd with Aragon GP victory

  • Six-times champion finishes five seconds clear of Martin
  • Bagnaia crashes to help Martin extend overall lead

Six-times MotoGP champion Marc Márquez stormed to victory at the Aragon Grand Prix in front of his home crowd on Sunday as the sprint winner completed a perfect weekend, while Francesco Bagnaia crashed out after a clash with Álex Márquez.

The 31-year-old Marc Márquez, who claimed his eighth Aragon pole on Saturday, took the chequered flag almost five seconds ahead of fellow Spaniard and world championship leader Jorge Martín for his first win since the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

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Injured Hunter Paisami ruled out of Argentina tour as Wallabies call up uncapped trio

  • Centre joins Australian squad’s lengthy injury list for two-Test series
  • Team head to South America after two defeats to Springboks

Australia centre Hunter Paisami has been ruled out of the Wallabies’ Argentina tour due to injury in another blow for Joe Schmidt’s side following back-to-back losses to South Africa in the Rugby Championship.

Paisami suffered an apparent knee injury and came off the field early in the Wallabies’ 30-12 loss to the Springboks in Perth at the weekend. He was omitted from the 35-man squad named on Tuesday for the two-Test series against the Pumas starting in La Plata on 31 August, joining a long injury list that includes winger Filipo Daugunu and loose forwards Fraser McReight and Liam Wright.

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New Zealand exact revenge on Argentina with try scoring blitz in Rugby Championship

  • New Zealand won second Test 42-10 after leading 35-3 at halftime
  • Victory extends All Blacks’ unbeaten run at Eden Park to 50 Tests

New Zealand rode a first-half try blitz to a 42-10 victory over Argentina in the Rugby Championship at Auckland’s Eden Park on Saturday to avenge last week’s shock loss to the Pumas in Wellington.

Damian McKenzie, skipper Ardie Savea, Caleb Clarke, Will Jordan and Beauden Barrett all crossed to give the All Blacks a 35-3 lead at halftime despite teeming rain and strong winds at the spiritual home of New Zealand rugby.

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Martín’s late mistake hands MotoGP British Grand Prix victory to Bastianini

  • Ducati rider wins ahead of Martín and teammate Bagnaia
  • Prima Pramac’s Martín takes championship lead

Enea Bastianini of Ducati won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday to complete a weekend double, taking the chequered flag ahead of new world championship leader Jorge Martín and two-time MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia.

Having qualified second on the grid, Bagnaia had taken the lead over pole-sitter Aleix Espargaró on the opening lap but found himself in the battle for third in the second part of the race after Prima Pramac’s Martín overtook him with eight laps to go.

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Bagnaia tops MotoGP standings after Martín crashes out in Germany

  • Martín slid off track with two laps to go
  • Brothers Marc and Álex Márquez finish second and third

Ducati’s reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia went top of the MotoGP championship after winning the German Grand Prix on Sunday ahead of Marc Márquez after title rival Jorge Martín crashed while he was leading the race with two laps to go.

Márquez’s brother Álex finished third to make it two brothers on a MotoGP podium for the first time since Japan’s Nobuatsu and Takuma Aoki finished second and third in Imola 27 years ago.

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Connor Garden-Bachop, New Zealand rugby union player, dies aged 25

  • Highlanders outside back died on Monday following a ‘medical event’
  • Garden-Bachop represented the Māori All Blacks in two Tests in 2022

Otago Highlanders outside back Connor Garden-Bachop died on Monday at the age of 25 following a medical event, New Zealand Rugby has said.

Garden-Bachop, who made his Highlanders debut in 2021, was on the team’s roster this season but parted ways with the Super Rugby Pacific club after their latest campaign finished in the quarter-finals.

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Moto GP: Bagnaia leads Ducati one-two in Italy to turn up heat on Martín

  • Francesco Bagnaia cuts gap in title race with Jorge Martín third
  • Enea Bastianini finishes second after late overtake on Martín

Francesco Bagnaia won the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday at the Mugello Circuit, while his Ducati teammate Enea Bastianini overtook Jorge Martín, who started on pole, on the final lap to take second place.

Pramac Racing’s Martín, the current championship leader, looked well set to challenge Bagnaia for top spot in the final stages of the race. Instead, the reigning champion pulled clear and Bastianini found the pace to overtake Martín at the final sector and grab second place to delight home fans.

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MotoGP: Francesco Bagnaia wins in Catalonia to cut gap to Jorge Martín

  • Ducati rider finishes ahead of Martín and Marc Márquez
  • Márquez recovers from 14th grid start to make podium

Ducati Lenovo’s two-time defending world champion, Francesco Bagnaia, won the Catalunya Grand Prix to close the gap on the championship leader, Jorge Martín, who finished second, while Ducati’s Marc Márquez was third despite starting 14th on the grid.

Márquez repeated his heroics from the Saturday sprint when he finished an astonishing third from 14th, keeping the polesitter, Aleix Espargaró, at bay until the chequered flag and finishing five-hundredths of a second ahead to take third.

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MotoGP: Martín edges duel with Bagnaia and Márquez to win at Le Mans

  • Pramac Racing rider tops MotoGP standings with 129 points
  • Márquez finishes second after final-lap overtake of Bagnaia

Jorge Martín of Pramac Racing, the MotoGP championship leader, won the French Grand Prix on Sunday to complete a weekend double while Gresini Ducati’s Marc Márquez finished second with a final-lap overtake of Francesco Bagnaia, the reigning champion, at Le Mans.

Bagnaia led for most of the race before Martín, having started on pole, regained the lead and powered to victory following an intense battle while Márquez, who started 13th on the grid, and finished on the podium once again after Saturday’s sprint.

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Bagnaia wins Spanish Grand Prix to close gap in MotoGP world standings

  • Francesco Bagnaia wins in Spain for third straight year
  • Reigning world champion closes gap to leader Jorge Martín

The reigning MotoGP champion, Francesco Bagnaia, won his third straight Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday to make up ground on Jorge Martín in the world championship standings after the Pramac Racing rider crashed out of the race while leading. Marc Márquez, the six-times MotoGP champion, finished second from pole position for Gresini Racing at the Circuito de Jerez, with VR46 Racing’s Marco Bezzecchi third.

Bagnaia, who started on the third row of the grid in seventh place, put himself in the mix early on with a series of audacious overtakes on the first lap, zipping past Bezzecchi, Martín and Márquez to take the lead. Saturday’s sprint winner Martín quickly wrested back the lead and was in front for much of the first half of the race, but the Spaniard lost the front-end of his Ducati on the 11th lap and was dumped in the gravel.

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Vi~ales makes it a perfect weekend at MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas

  • Aprilia rider adds race victory to sprint race triumph
  • Acosta becomes youngest rider to take back-to-back podiums

Aprilia’s Maverick Viñales completed the perfect weekend at the Grand Prix of the Americas when the pole sitter and sprint winner claimed victory in Sunday’s race despite dropping outside the top 10 on the opening lap after a poor start.

Viñales became the first rider to win a Sunday race with three different manufacturers – having won with Suzuki and Yamaha in the past – taking the chequered flag in an eventful race that had several lead changes.

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F1 owner Liberty Media announces takeover of MotoGP

  • US-based company buys 86% stake for €3.5bn from Dorna
  • Takeover subject to clearance and could attract scrutiny

Formula One’s US-based owner Liberty Media has announced a takeover of MotoGP’s parent company Dorna, MotoGP said in a statement on Monday.

Dorna will stay an independently run company attributed to Liberty Media’s Formula One Group tracking stock and continue to be based in Madrid, with the long-serving Dorna chief executive Carmelo Ezpeleta remaining in his position, the statement said.

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Jorge Martín dominates in Portugal to take MotoGP lead after eventful race

  • Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Márquez crash out in collision
  • Rookie rider Pedro Acosta shines to claim first podium place

Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martín won the Portuguese Grand Prix at the Algarve International Circuit on Sunday to take the MotoGP championship lead, while 19-year-old rookie Pedro Acosta earned his first premier-class podium with a blistering charge after starting seventh.

Acosta finished third behind pole-sitter Enea Bastianini after Saturday’s sprint winner Maverick Viñales, who was in second place, crashed on the final lap due to what appeared to be a technical problem with the gearbox.

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Francesco Bagnaia begins defence of MotoGP title with Qatar GP victory

  • Ducati rider finished ahead of Brad Binder and Jorge Martín
  • Teenager Pedro Costa sets early pace but drops to ninth

Ducati’s defending world champion, Francesco Bagnaia, won the MotoGP season opening Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday after taking the lead in the opening lap to beat Red Bull KTM’s Brad Binder and Pramac Racing’s pole sitter Jorge Martín.

Bagnaia had finished fourth in Saturday’s sprint but his faultless ride to take the chequered flag in the race moved him to the top of the championship with 31 points. Binder, who also finished second in the sprint, sits two points behind with 29 while last year’s championship runner-up, Martín, is a point further behind.

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Pat Cummins strikes late but New Zealand claw back ascendancy in seesawing second Test

  • Marnus Labuschagne scores 90 as Matt Henry takes 7-67
  • New Zealand fight back to 134-2 leading by 40 runs on day two

Australia skipper Pat Cummins bowled Kane Williamson in the final hour of play on the second day of the second Test in Christchurch on Saturday, just as the master batsman threatened an innings that would put New Zealand on top.

After 14 wickets fell on day one and seven more before tea, Williamson and Tom Latham had hit the pause button on a frenetic match with a partnership of 105 that erased Australia’s first-innings lead and put the home side 17 runs ahead.

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