MotoGP Assen: Trackhouse dominates the Sprint, Bezzecchi-Martin in a fiery duel

Aprilia confirms it has the best bike at the TT Circuit, but the ones out front belong to the American squad: a heated battle between the factory riders, with Bez coming out on top.

The MotoGP Sprint of the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix was won by Raul Fernandez, who crossed the line ahead of his teammate Ai Ogura. The best Aprilias this afternoon were those of the SuperFile Trackhouse team. The podium at Assen was completed by Fabio Di Giannantonio’s VR46 Ducati, who managed to keep Marco Bezzecchi behind.

During the sprint race, the rider from Rimini also had a fairly fiery duel with teammate Jorge Martin, but once he got past him he left him there. Despite some difficulties, the Spaniard still did well to hold off the Ducatis of Marc Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia. Also in the points were the KTMs of Enea Bastianini and Pedro Acosta.

It’s worth remembering that from this weekend at Assen the front holeshot device has been banned, a system long used at the start to hit the first corner harder. The aim is to increase safety, since by reducing speed off the line there should be fewer chances of contact and incidents.

At the start of the Sprint at Assen, the best getaway came from Ogura, who was then re-passed by poleman Martin. Fernandez was third, while Bezzecchi ended up fifth after a failed attempt to overtake Raul; ahead of him was also Di Giannantonio, shadowed by Marquez and Bagnaia.

The Martinator immediately tried to pull away from the Trackhouse Aprilias, with Fernandez passing him on lap two. The attempted break didn’t work, as Raul latched onto the leader and got by him at the final chicane; Diggia did the same to Ogura.

On lap 5 Fernandez had a near crash and found Diggia right on him, with Ogura a bit further back, then Martin, Bezzecchi, Marquez, Bagnaia and Bastianini. The top 8 covered by less than three seconds. On lap 7 Bezzecchi passed Martin after a fairly heated duel, while Bagnaia did the same to Marquez.

With 5 laps to go, Di Giannantonio faded, Ogura latched onto him and passed him at the final chicane. Fernandez capitalized on the situation, gaining over a second of margin. With three laps remaining, Bez found himself half a second behind Diggia and set his sights on the podium. Bagnaia was also attacking Martin with the idea of taking fifth. But on the last lap the positions didn’t change; the points-paying zone remained entirely the same. The SuperFile Trackhouse team celebrated the Fernandez–Ogura one-two.

After the checkered flag, Bagnaia lost sixth place to Marquez for touching the green on the very last lap. A penalty was issued against Pecco.