Italy’s Valentino Rossi has taken a sensational victory after a masterful ride at the MotoGP of Argentina, the Gran Premio Red Bull de la República Argentina.

The sun had come out and track temperatures had risen to 37 degrees for the start of the MotoGP race at the Termas de Rio Hondo. The reigning MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez, along with CWM LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow, decided to switch to the hard rear tyre on the grid, unlike Rossi and Lorenzo who both decided to use the extra hard compound rear.

Aleix Espargaro led into the first corner, but Marquez passed the Team Suzuki Ecstar GSX-RR almost immediately and used his hard tyre to create a four-second gap at the front.

At about mid-race distance Marquez’s tyres appeared to start to lose performance meaning that the chasing pack, led at this point by veteran and nine-time former champion Rossi, started to close in on the leader. “The Doctor” had worked his way through the pack from 8th on the grid and could sense victory, as he was lapping almost a second quicker than Marquez.

The nine-time World Champion eventually caught Marquez with just two laps to go with the two riders touching, before Marquez clipped the back of Rossi’s bike and crashed out of the race. Rossi went on to take the race win by over 5 seconds ahead of Andrea Dovizioso in second, with Cal Crutchlow stealing the final podium spot from Andrea Iannone on the very last corner.

Rossi’s Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo finished in 5th ahead of Bradley Smith on the Satellite Monster Yamaha Tech 3 bike. Aleix Espargaro ended the race in 7th, ahead of his brother Pol Espargaro, with Scott Redding and Maverick Viñales completing the top 10.

CWN LCR Honda’s Jack Miller took the Open class victory as he finished in 12th, just 0.075s ahead of Hector Barbera on the Avintia Ducati.

Rossi now has a six-point lead over Dovizioso in the MotoGP World Championship standings, and is 30 points ahead of Marquez.

Results from the MotoGP of Argentina, round 3 of 18:

1. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 41m 35.644s
   2. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP15) 41m 41.329s
   3. Cal Crutchlow GBR CWM LCR Honda (RC213V) 41m 43.942s
   4. Andrea Iannone ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP15) 41m 43.996s
   5. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 41m 45.836s
   6. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 41m 55.520s
   7. Aleix Espargaro ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 41m 59.977s
   8. Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 42m 3.314s
   9. Scott Redding GBR Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 42m 10.041s
   10. Maverick Viñales ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)* 42m 10.452s
   11. Danilo Petrucci ITA Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP14.1) 42m 15.850s
   12. Jack Miller AUS CWM LCR Honda (RC213V-RS)* 42m 18.298s
   13. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP14 Open) 42m 18.373s
   14. Loris Baz FRA Athina Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha)* 42m 18.497s
   15. Stefan Bradl GER Athina Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha) 42m 18.681s
   16. Nicky Hayden USA Aspar MotoGP Team (RC213V-RS) 42m 18.896s
   17. Eugene Laverty IRL Aspar MotoGP Team (RC213V-RS)* 42m 19.044s
   18. Mike Di Meglio FRA Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP14 Open) 42m 19.452s
   19. Alvaro Bautista ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 42m 20.522s
   20. Marco Melandri ITA Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 42m 31.880s
   21. Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing (RC213V-RS) 42m 39.015s
   22. Alex De Angelis RSM Octo IodaRacing (ART) 42m 44.088s
   Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) DNF
   Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) DNF
   Yonny Hernandez COL Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP14.2) DNF

Standings after round 3 of 18: