Marquez led from pole early on, but had to play second fiddle to a charging Folger on his Tech 3 Yamaha for a handful of laps early on, until the German outbraked himself and allowed him back in front.

Another mistake at Turn 1 from Folger looked to have settled the lead battle, but Folger continued to hound Marquez until the Honda rider got the hammer down with three laps to go.

Story of the race

From pole position – the eighth of his career here – Marquez led the race to Turn 1 ahead of Dani Pedrosa’s Honda, the fast-starting Ducati of Jorge Lorenzo, Folger and Danilo Petrucci (Pramac Ducati). Valentino Rossi was up to sixth from ninth on the grid on the best of the works Yamahas.

Folger grabbed third from Lorenzo on lap three, with Petrucci following suit a tour later.

The fastest man on the track, Folger then passed Pedrosa for second, and set his sights on leader Marquez – slicing past him on lap five and lead much to the home crowd’s delight.

But his lead didn’t last for too long, as he ran wide at Turn 1 and Marquez repassed him on lap 10.

Further back, Rossi snatched fifth from Lorenzo, with erstwhile points leader Andrea Dovizioso – from 10th on the grid – doing likewise. Rossi then outbraked Petrucci for fourth at Turn 1 on lap nine.

Following his lacklustre qualifying, which resulting in him starting 11th, Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales rose into the top six just before half distance.

At the front, Folger shadowed Marquez, while Pedrosa followed at a distance. Rossi led the chasing pack, with Dovizioso and Vinales on his tail.

Folger made another mistake under braking at Turn 1, giving Marquez a brief respite, but came back at Marquez again in the closing stages.

But Folger couldn't keep up the pace in the final few laps, and ended up 3.3 seconds behind Marquez at the flag - with Pedrosa another eight behind in third place.

Behind the leading three, the canny Vinales picked off Dovizioso and then Rossi to take fourth with 11 laps to go, while an impressive Alvaro Bautista (Aspar Ducati) grabbed sixth from Dovizioso with eight laps to go.

Aleix Espargaro also passed Dovizioso to finish seventh for Aprilia, with a surprisingly vapid Johann Zarco (Tech 3 Yamaha) and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) ninth and 10th respectively.

Lorenzo, who gambled on soft tyres all around, slumped outside the top 10 by half distance. He finished 11th, a spot ahead of Petrucci, who also faded badly.

KTM duo Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith, along with Marc VDS Honda's Jack Miller, completed the points.

Sam Lowes crashed his Aprilia at Turn 7, and Suzuki’s Andrea Iannone suffered a nasty fall at Turn 12 while fighting Lorenzo for 11th.

Hector Barbera (Avintia Ducati) was disqualified for failing to serve a ride-through penalty after jumping the start.

Race results:

Pos.	No.	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap
1	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	40'59.525
2	94	Jonas Folger	Yamaha	3.310
3	26	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	11.546
4	25	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	14.253
5	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	14.980
6	19	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	16.534
7	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	19.736
8	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	20.188
9	5	Johann Zarco	Yamaha	21.138
10	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	24.210
11	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Ducati	25.659
12	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	31.540
13	44	Pol Espargaro	KTM	32.179
14	38	Bradley Smith	KTM	36.453
15	43	Jack Miller	Honda	37.771
16	36	Mika Kallio	KTM	37.852
17	17	Karel Abraham	Ducati	39.323
18	53	Tito Rabat	Honda	41.190
19	76	Loris Baz	Ducati	59.850
20	45	Scott Redding	Ducati	1'01.664
21	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1'01.695
Ret	29	Andrea Iannone	Suzuki	6 laps
Ret	22	Sam Lowes	Aprilia	18 laps
DQ	8	Hector Barbera	Ducati