Alex Marquez claimed a comfortable victory in the Spanish MotoGP on Sunday, ending overall leader Marco Bezzecchi's winning streak of five consecutive triumphs.
Pole-sitter and last season's champion Marc Marquez crashed out and his younger brother was able to repeat his 2025 maiden victory in Jerez, finishing 1.903sec ahead of Bezzecchi in second.
Aprilia rider Bezzecchi nonetheless stretched his overall lead at the top of the standings to 11 points on Jorge Martin, who came in fourth.
"I can confirm it -- magic exists. We were nowhere before arriving here, nowhere near a podium, not even maybe a shot at the top five," Alex Marquez told DAZN, after a difficult start to the season.
Fabio Di Giannantonio finished third to complete the podium and rise to third in the overall standings, in what proved a relatively serene race in the sun after the chaotic and dramatic rain-lashed sprint on Saturday.
Last season's champion Marc Marquez won that after some quick thinking to change his bike, and started on pole on Sunday, but came to grief on the 11th turn of the second lap, shortly after being overtaken by his brother Alex.
Pedro Acosta, who started the day third overall but dropped to fourth after coming in 10th, took some damage after contact with Raul Fernandez.
Bezzecchi stayed on Ducati-Gresini rider Alex Marquez's tail for a while but the Spaniard was too quick for him and eventually the Italian settled for holding onto second ahead of compatriot Di Giannantonio.
"Since Friday I went out and felt really good. It's not that we changed a huge amount, yes, a few small things, but not that much," added Alex Marquez.
"So I'm really happy to have been able to flip the switch, to have been able to ride over the problems and once again get the absolute most out of what we had."
Marc Marquez, who dropped to fifth overall after crashing out, said perhaps wind caused his fall but also accepted it might have been his own fault.
"Sometimes you crash, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and this time it was our turn to crash," he told DAZN.
"The important thing is that we enjoyed the Jerez weekend -- I had a good time riding the bike...
"They were telling us that maybe there was a bit of side wind coming into that corner, I don't know if that had anything to do with it or if it was more my own mistake."
Marc Marquez has struggled at the start of the season and admitted it will be tough to defend his title.
"Everyone knows I'm the first person who always tries to see things in an optimistic way, but at the same time in a realistic way," he added.
"I'm not riding well enough to fight for the title, because if you're not on the podium on Sundays, it's very difficult. But we'll try, little by little, to keep improving and to get those feelings back again."
rbs/nf
