Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia won his maiden MotoGP world championship at the season-ending Valencia Grand Prix on Sunday after Fabio Quartararo failed to overhaul him in the standings.
Defending champion Quartararo was 23 points behind Bagnaia going into the final race. The Yamaha rider needed nothing less than a victory to leapfrog the Italian but finished fourth in a race won by Suzuki's Alex Rins.
"The hardest race of my life! My mission was to be in the top five... but I started to struggle after three-four laps, the front of my bike was impossible to control," Bagnaia said.His title marked the greatest comeback in MotoGP history as he was 91 points down midway through the season and it ended a 50-year wait for an Italian rider to win the championship on an Italian bike after the great Giacomo Agostini.
Bagnaia celebrated by waving the Italian flag as Ducati presented him with a golden helmet, the visibly emotional 25-year-old taking a moment to compose himself before raising it in the air in celebration.Rins had the perfect start to take the lead from pole sitter Jorge Martin into turn one while Quartararo's title hopes slipped through his grasp as Bagnaia moved up the grid from eighth to battle the Yamaha rider for fifth.
Bagnaia looked to be struggling after the collision and decided to hang back and avoid any risk, knowing he would be crowned champion as long as he finished in the top 14 even if Quartararo won the race.
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