ALEX Marquez comfortably held off his brother Marc to claim victory in the Catalunya MotoGP on Sunday.
The 29-year-old’s triumph on his home circuit snapped his older sibling’s winning streak of seven consecutive victories.
Standings leader Marc Marquez finished second and cannot seal a seventh world title next weekend at Misano.
Ducati rider Marc Marquez leads the overall standings on 487 points with Alex trailing by 182.
Polesitter Alex Marquez crashed out from the lead in Saturday’s sprint race on his Gresini Ducati.
Marc Marquez capitalised on that incident to claim victory in the sprint race.
The 32-year-old nosed ahead of Alex into the first turn of Sunday’s race from third on the grid.
Alex battled back to retake the lead on turn one of lap four before shutting out his brother on the second turn.
He opened up a lead which he never relinquished throughout the remainder of the race.
Alex Marquez held off his brother effectively and grew the gap to 0.6 seconds.
Every rider used medium/medium tyres apart from Pedro Acosta who opted for medium/soft.
That tyre choice perhaps began to tell as Acosta fell 2.6 seconds behind third-place Enea Bastianini at the finish.
The two Marquez brothers outstripped their competition by a significant margin.
Marc Marquez finished over four seconds ahead of third-place Bastianini during the final lap.
The two brothers celebrated together with abandon in front of delighted fans at a packed Circuit de Barcelona. – AFP
