Penalty drops Brad Binder off podium in Dutch MotoGP sprint race, Bezzecchi wins

Marco Bezzecchi won the Dutch MotoGP sprint race at Assen on Saturday ahead of world champion Francesco Bagnaia.

Fabio Quartararo completed the podium after third-placed Brad Binder was demoted to fifth following a long lap penalty for track limits.

Binder held onto second place in the race's early stages before Bagnaia slid past him. 

Bagnaia took command of the 13-lap dash around the classic motorcycling venue at turn one from Binder as pole sitter Bezzecchi was caught napping, dropping to third.

Bezzecchi bided his time and moved back to race second, leaving Bagnaia in his crosshairs.

Regaining the lead

Ten laps to go and Bezzecchi muscled past his good friend and compatriot to regain the lead, quickly opening up a half second gap.

At the midway point it was Bezzecchi's race to lose.

And the Italian, who dominated practice and set a record lap time in qualifying, didn't disappoint, even extending his lead at the line to 1.294sec.

Riding for Valentino Rossi's VR46 Ducati-satellite team he displayed a touch of the Italian legend Rossi's showmanship, climbing a camera gantry to milk the applause from his growing number of fans.

"I felt amazing today on the bike," he said after his first sprint win.

"I made a mistake on the first corner and lost two places.

"But I kept myself calm and my pace was good I came back and I'm very happy.

"I hope the fans enjoyed it - see you tomorrow!"

Bagnaia goes into Sunday's eighth round of the season leading the championship by 21 points from Jorge Martin (sixth), with Bezzecchi a further 10 points back in third.