Cal Crutchlow secured a second MotoGP win for LCR Honda, after early leader Marc Marquez crashed out of a comfortable lead, 10 laps in.Crutchlow was untouchable once Marquez crashed out. The Brit cruised to a second career Grand Prix win by more than four seconds ahead of Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales.
The race looked for all money like it would be a Marc Marquez benefit in the early stages, the newly-crowned World Champion sprinting away at the start of the race with a hard front tyre.
He quickly had the gap close to three seconds as Crutchlow and the two Espargaros scrapped over second, before the Brit started a mini comeback on Laps 8 and 9 to pull the gap back to 2.4s having broken away from the others.
Then, on Lap 10, Marquez handed a gift-wrapped lead to the LCR Honda rider. The Spaniard dropped the front of his Honda at Turn 4, the bike digging into the gravel and flying through the air.
Just like that, Marquez was resigned to his first DNF of the season, and Crutchlow was suddenly leading the race by just under two seconds.
Rossi, meanwhile, had carved his way through the field, leaving the likes of teammate Jorge Lorenzo, Pol Espargaro, and Andrea Dovizioso behind as he charged into the podium spots. He timed his run past Aleix Espargaro just as Marquez went down, which meant the Italian had come from his worst qualifying spot in half a decade to second place in just 10 laps.
But while his run to second looked effortless, Rossi had no answer for Crutchlow. Five laps later the gap was out to 3.3s, five more it was 5.6s.
At the finish, Crutchlow crossed the line 4.2s clear of Rossi to secure his second career MotoGP win.
The battle for third was the highlight of the second half of the race. Once the race settled down, it shook out as Dovizioso’s Ducati against the two Suzukis.
For a long while, Vinales was happy to sit back and let his teammate and the Ducati battle it out. For three laps in a row Dovizioso would blast past on the main straight, while Espargaro would fight back through Southern Loop.
But on Lap 23 it all changed. Vinales made his move, trying to run under Espargaro on the run to Turn 4. Espargaro responded by dropping the front end, his race over on the spot.
Vinales used his teammate’s misfortune to good effect, comfortably pulling away from Dovizioso in the closing laps to secure the final podium spot for Suzuki.
Dovizioso came home fourth, while Pol Espargaro finished fifth, and Jorge Lorenzo a lonely sixth after never looking in the game and certainly never having the pace of his flying teammate with whom he remains locked in battle for second in the championship.
Scott Redding and Bradley Smith finished seventh and eighth respectively, after Hector Barbera crashed out of the same battle pack with three laps to go.
That moved Danilo Petrucci into ninth, with local hero Jack Miller rounding out the Top 10 after predictably dropping back through the field in the dry conditions.
Nicky Hayden, subbing for Pedrosa on the second works Honda, had been in the hunt for a Top 10 as well, going down (ironically) at Honda on the penultimate lap after clashing with Miller while running ninth.