MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez obliterated his opposition in the 2025 German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring, heading a heavily-depleted list of finishers.
Only 18 riders started the race following the Saturday injury withdrawals of Maverick Vinales and Franco Morbidelli, and only 10 reached the finish, with Turn 1 claiming several - including two second-place runners.
Unlike in the sprint on Saturday, Marquez kept the lead comfortably through Turn 1 after starting from pole - but didn't break away immediately, though wasn't really under attack either.
The riders right behind him tussled with one another instead, with Fabio Di Giannantonio lunging Marco Bezzecchi at the penultimate corner but Bezzecchi countering successfully at the last corner.
Di Giannantonio struck again at the same place the next time by, this time successfully covering off any retaliation - with Bezzecchi instead attacked by Alex Marquez but getting back ahead at Turn 1.
The race out front stabilised after that flurry, with the elder Marquez slowly but surely eking out the expected lead and the younger Marquez putting some short-lived pressure on Bezzecchi.
The Aprilia rider rebuffed that pressure and set off after Di Giannantonio, who then suddenly went down at Turn 1 on lap 18 of 30.
Di Giannantonio's crash kicked off a veritable epidemic of Turn 1 offs. LCR Honda's Johann Zarco - having claimed fifth place for a split second - crashed further into Turn 1.
? @johannzarco1 HAS ALSO GONE DOWN
A solid Top 5 has slipped through his fingers ?#GermanGP ?? pic.twitter.com/UInS7yYf1U
Zarco was investigated for a crash under yellows but cleared of wrongdoing as he was likely just past where the green flag was being shown.
Bezzecchi then crashed out of second, too, and Turn 1 - the Coca-Cola curve - then claimed the races of Ai Ogura and Joan Mir, with Mir going wide into the corner and Ogura taking a tighter line, losing control and wiping out the Honda rider.
Now @aiogura79 has taken @JoanMirOfficial out ?
And Savadori crashes too ?#GermanGP ?? pic.twitter.com/71juuD2DrS
Aprilia tester Lorenzo Savadori, who had crashed earlier in the race and was running two laps down, also crashed arriving at the scene.
The crashing stopped from there, and with Marquez now left with a massive lead out front, he duly saw out the race, showboating over the finish line to win by six seconds.
Alex Marquez, who had fractured his hand two weeks ago at Assen, held firm in second, with Pecco Bagnaia never really close enough to attack and simply rounding out a familiar Ducati 1-2-3.
There is now 83 points between the two Marquez brothers at the top of the standings, with Bagnaia another 64 back from Alex.
Fabio Quartararo was a fine fourth for Yamaha despite dropping behind Yamaha stablemate Jack Miller in the early going.
Quartararo was 18 seconds back from the race winner at the finish, but did fight off charging Gresini rookie Fermin Aldeguer at the very end.
Luca Marini was a superb sixth on his injury return for Honda, defeating Brad Binder in their last-lap scrap - while Miller fought off Trackhouse Aprilia's Raul Fernnadez for eighth.
Marini's sixth is the works Honda team's best grand prix finish since 2023.
Alex Rins was a brutal 39.4s off the top spot, struggling just as badly as he had all weekend, yet picked up a 10th-place finish.
In addition to the quick-succession Turn 1 crashers, there were early exits for Miguel Oliveira - down from 14th - and Pedro Acosta, whose likely podium charge went out the window when he lost the bike coming through Turn 2 behind Alex Marquez.
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