Marquez beats brother Alex at Misano to seize MotoGP lead

Marc Marquez is back on top of MotoGP. The defending champion won the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano on Sunday on a Ducati, beating his brother Alex Marquez by 0.657 seconds.

It sealed a perfect weekend. Marquez also won Saturday's sprint race, the shorter dash that sets part of the weekend's points, and then controlled Sunday's full-length grand prix from the front BBC Sport.

Alex Marquez finished second. Pedro Acosta took third. Jorge Martin, who started the weekend as championship leader, came home fifth.

The race lost its pole-sitter almost immediately. Marco Bezzecchi, fastest in qualifying and therefore starting from pole position at the very front of the grid, crashed out on the second lap. Per official timing, that left the Marquez brothers to settle it.

Victory flips the title fight. After 14 races, Marc Marquez and Martin are level on 274 points each. Marquez leads the standings on countback, with five grand prix wins to Martin's one.

The turnaround is stark. Marquez missed part of the season through injury, then clawed back 203 points in the past seven grands prix to wipe out Martin's advantage.

What makes this stand out is how tight it is now. Level on points, with eight rounds still to go. No cushion. Every sprint and every Sunday counts double from here.

For fans, this means a straight duel. Two riders, same total, different routes — Marquez with the recent winning run, Martin with the consistency that kept him ahead for so long.

The championship resumes quickly. The next race weekend is in Austria on 18-20 September.