MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez boosted his title hopes as he won at the Aragon Grand Prix for the third year running.

The victory helped Ducati’s Marquez close the gap between him and championship leader Jorge Martin to 19 points from.

The 33-year-old’s eighth triumph at MotorLand came after an intense battle with Aprilia’s polesitter Marco Bezzecch.

Marquez, who won Saturday’s sprint, nearly made contact as he impressively overtook Bezzecchi at high speed on lap six.

He moves up to 237 points, leapfrogging Bezzecchi (232) to climb to second behind Aprilia’s Martin (256), who finished fifth.

“I heard his bike on turn 15 so I tried to cross the line, but when we were close, the slipstream was pushing each other very much and it was strange,” Bezzecchi said.

“Marc, with the experience that he has and the speed that he has, today he was unbeatable.”

Bezzecchi, 27, finished the race in third behind Marquez and KTM’s Pedro Acosta.