Marquez crashes in Italian GP podium battle, Pedrosa out on first lap

Championship leader Marc Marquez, representing Repsol Honda Team, crashed before finishing 16th at the Italian Grand Prix here.

Dani Pedrosa, the other racer in the Honda team, finished 26th.

Marquez got off well from the second row, completed the first lap in third position, and moved up to second two laps later.

But, while chasing eventual race winner Jorge Lorenzo on lap 5, the leader lost the front in turn 10, and although he almost saved it, he ultimately slid into the gravel and fell off.

He rejoined the race in penultimate position and finished in 16th place.

Pedrosa was aiming to obtain the best-possible result after starting from near the back of the grid, but he crashed on the first lap, taking down fellow Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami.

Marquez said, "We've been struggling the whole weekend to be perfectly comfortable with these particular spec tyres, but I wasn't suffering that much in the race today.

"Instead, the front folded quite unexpectedly, as I wasn't pushing that hard, and I crashed, though I almost saved it! When I rejoined the race, our pace wasn't bad at all, despite the bike being a bit damaged, so that's okay.