Argentina GP: Marquez romps to dominant victory

Honda rider Marquez made the perfect launch from pole position to make a break at the start, opening up a one-second lead over a similarly fast-starting Valentino Rossi on the first tour.

The reigning champion then began to set a fearsome pace that none of his rivals could match, stretching his advantage to three seconds after three laps.

After 10 of 25 laps, Marquez was a full seven seconds in the clear, and his lead peaked at more than 12 seconds in the latter stages before he finally crossed the line with 9.8s in his pocket for his third win at Termas de Rio Hondo.

Behind, the battle for second was fought largely between Rossi and Dovizioso, with Yamaha rider Rossi recovering from running wide at Turn 5 on lap seven to retake the place the following tour.

Dovizioso found a way back by his countryman on lap 13, but was unable to escape Rossi, who dived back past the Italian at Turn 7 on the final lap to come home second.

A frenetic scrap for fourth place went the way of Jack Miller, after the Pramac Ducati rider made late passes on Alex Rins - up from 16th on the grid - and the second works Ducati of Danilo Petrucci.

Rossi's teammate Maverick Vinales made a poor start from second on the grid to drop to fourth on the opening lap, and then slumped to eighth on lap two.

The Spaniard looked set to take seventh place before being taken out by the Petronas SRT Yamaha of Franco Morbidelli on the last lap at Turn 7.

That accident promoted Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) to seventh ahead of Fabio Quartararo (Petronas), Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) and Pol Espargaro (KTM).

Behind Tech 3 KTM rookie Miguel Oliveira, Jorge Lorenzo brought home the second Repsol Honda in 12th, the same position he qualified, recovering some positions after dropping out of the points early on.

Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) blew a strong chance to be part of the podium fight with a jump-start, earning himself a ride-through penalty that left him down in 13th.

Johann Zarco finished 15th for the second race in a row on the second of the works KTMs, while Andrea Iannone (Aprilia) was last of the finishers in 17th.

Both Avintia Ducatis of Tito Rabat and Karel Abraham crashed out, while Suzuki's Joan Mir retired in the pits after a lurid grass-tracking moment late in the race.

Race results:

Pos.	#	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap
1	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	41'43.688
2	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	9.816
3	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	10.530
4	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	12.140
5	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	12.563
6	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	13.750
7	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	18.160
8	20	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	20.403
9	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	25.292
10	44	Pol Espargaro	KTM	25.679
11	88	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	25.855
12	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Honda	27.497
13	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	31.398
14	63	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	32.893
15	5	Johann Zarco	KTM	33.372
16	55	Hafizh Syahrin	KTM	35.545
17	29	Andrea Iannone	Aprilia	38.238
Ret	12	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	1 Lap
Ret	21	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	1 Lap
Ret	36	Joan Mir	Suzuki	4 Laps
Ret	53	Tito Rabat	Ducati	10 Laps
Ret	17	Karel Abraham	Ducati	11 Laps