Alex Marquez and Johann Zarco Hospitalised After Huge Crashes at Catalan MotoGP

Barcelona raced red-flagged twice after high-speed incidents as Fabio Di Giannantonio claimed dramatic victory.

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Alex Marquez and Johann Zarco were both hospitalised following separate high-speed crashes during a chaotic Catalan Grand Prix in Barcelona, which was red-flagged twice before eventually being won by Fabio Di Giannantonio.

The dramatic race at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya saw Di Giannantonio emerge victorious after multiple restarts, finishing ahead of Joan Mir and Fermin Aldeguer. However, the race was overshadowed by two major crashes involving several riders.

Alex Marquez Suffers Fractures After Massive Impact

The first major incident happened on Lap 12 when Pedro Acosta, who was leading the race, suddenly lost power on the main straight.

Acosta immediately tried warning riders behind him, but second-placed Alex Marquez had no time to react before smashing into the rear of the KTM machine at high speed.

The impact sent Marquez and his Ducati machine violently into the air before cartwheeling towards the barriers in one of the biggest crashes of the season. The Gresini Racing rider was immediately attended to by medical staff before being transported to hospital by ambulance.

Later medical examinations confirmed Marquez suffered a marginal fracture to the C7 vertebra in his neck as well as a fractured right collarbone.

The Spaniard is set to undergo surgery to stabilise the collarbone injury using a plate.

“Everything under control,” Marquez posted on social media.

“Time to go into the operating room tonight, but I couldn’t be in better hands. Huge thanks to everyone for your concern and for the loving messages I’m receiving.”

His teammate Fermin Aldeguer admitted the atmosphere inside the garage became emotional following the incident.

“It’s never easy to race in situations like this,” said Aldeguer.

“We are professional riders and we know how to separate emotions, but it still helped me to know from the team that the news about Alex and the other riders was positive.”

“We took twenty very important points today, but now we are waiting for Alex to come back to us at 100%.”

Zarco Also Taken to Hospital

The chaos continued during the restart when Zarco crashed heavily after becoming tangled with his motorcycle in another frightening incident that triggered the second red flag of the afternoon.

According to LCR Honda, the French rider suffered injuries to both the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments, damage to the medial meniscus and also a small fibula tear near the ankle area.

Zarco remained under observation overnight before returning to France for further specialist evaluation.

Riders React to Dangerous Race Conditions

Despite being struck by debris during the earlier Alex Marquez crash, Di Giannantonio managed to continue racing before eventually taking victory in the final restart.

The Italian admitted the incidents reminded everyone about the dangers of MotoGP racing.

“Today has not been an easy day for everybody. I really hope that Alex is fine,” said Di Giannantonio.

“We know that our sport is amazing and we try to give a great show, but we are also humans and we are in danger. I really hope everybody is safe.”

Meanwhile, championship leader Marco Bezzecchi also expressed concern over the accidents.

“First of all, I hope that Alex Márquez and Johann Zarco are okay,” he said.

“Álex’s crash was pretty scary, with pieces of the bike flying all over the place and even hitting several riders, including me.”

Jorge Martin, who retired from the race, questioned the decision to continue restarting the event after such serious incidents.

“Whatever I did today is secondary. The most important thing is that Álex and Johann are okay,” Martin said.

“It was an extremely dangerous day and having to go through three restarts seems excessive to me. We’re only human and after seeing accidents like that, it isn’t easy to focus again.”

Adding to Ducati’s difficult weekend, reigning world champion Marc Marquez was already absent from the Catalan GP after fracturing his foot during the French Grand Prix Sprint race at Le Mans last weekend. The Marquez brothers are currently focused on their recovery, even as the battle for the championship remains intense.