Miguel Ángel Oliveira took the victory in the Grand Prix of Catalonia , in Barcelona, with Zarco second. The Frenchman tried until the end but did not arrive in time and the Portuguese achieved the first victory of the season, the third of his life with KTM, on a circuit that he knows well. Quartararo’s problems in the last laps prevented him from fighting for victory, but he continues to lead the World Championship, on another black day for Márquez.
Fabio Quartararo came like a plane after signing a new pole, the fifth in a row, and he presented himself as the man to beat. The race did not start very well for the Frenchman, who lost two positions to Miller and Oliveira at the start. A few laps later, in his attempt to regain the first position, he went long and Joan Mir and Aleix Espargaró surpassed him. The leader of the World Cup fell to fifth position.
Behind, Marc Márquez , who started thirteenth, was advancing positions to sneak into the leading group. The goal of the ilerdense was to be among the top ten, although the dream of reaching the podium in the home grand prix was there. Marc was fifth with 19 laps remaining after beating Aleix Espargaró . The start was exciting, it seemed that Márquez was coming back from the big occasions, but unfortunately he would crash at Turn 10 two laps later when he was sixth.
Third zero followed for the Spanish (Le Mans, Mugello and Catalonia) who cannot lift his head. Although the Honda is not going through its best moment either. Pol Espargaró also crashed at Turn 10, the same place where his brother Aleix and Valentino Rossi would later crash. Ahead, Quartararo recovered positions and returned to place first. The battle was served. Oliveira and Quartararo were fighting for victory and everything pointed to the triumph in the GP of Catalonia between the two of them.
However, the Frenchman suffered a problem with three laps remaining. His jumpsuit’s zipper came down, he lost his chest protection, went long and suffered a three-second penalty for cutting at the chicane that cost him the podium. He ended up running with his overalls open, fighting Miller for the podium. Despite the fact that on the track he crossed the finish line in third position, the penalty cost him the podium and, therefore, Miller was the one who sneaked onto the podium of the Catalan GP along with Oliveira and Zarco . Mir finished fifth, ahead of Viñales.
