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MotoGP Thailand GP: Bagnaia strikes back to win over Martin, Marquez crashes

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Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing © Autosport.com

Francesco Bagnaia has reduced Jorge Martin’s lead in the 2024 MotoGP standings after mastering wet conditions to win the Thailand Grand Prix.

The Italian capitalised on an error by Martin in the early stages to take the lead and assume control, Bagnaia going on to take the flag almost three seconds clear of his title rival.

It allows Bagnaia to recover ground conceded to Martin in Saturday’s sprint race with the margin between the Ducati pair reduced to 17 points with two rounds of the season remaining.

As flurries of rain threatened to throw a curveball into what is already a finely poised 2024 MotoGP title battle, Martin held the advantage early on after grabbing the lead at Turn 1 off the line from Bagnaia.

Going on to pull a second clear of the Italian, a mistake by Martin coming into the hairpin on lap five of 26 allowed both Bagnaia and Marc Marquez to slip past.

With further leery moments in the tricky conditions stymying Martin’s attempts at recovering lost ground on his Ducati counterparts ahead, Bagnaia and Marquez moved clear in their battle for the lead.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

However, when Marquez’s challenge ended on lap 14 with an off at Turn 9, Bagnaia was released into a comfortable advantage he protected to the chequered flag for his ninth victory of the 2024 MotoGP season.

In second, Martin benefitted from Marquez’s exit to limit the damage to his championship advantage with just two rounds and four races remaining.

Behind Martin, countryman Pedro Acosta came on strong in the closing stages following earlier off-track moments to recover to a fifth podium of the season in third, while Fabio di Giannantoniobrought his 2024 MotoGP campaign to a close in fourth ahead of the surgery that will sideline him from the remaining two events.

Jack Miller ran as high as third as he revelled in the slippery conditions before slipping back to fifth at the flag, ahead of factory KTM team-mate Brad Binder in sixth.

Maverick Vinales flew the flag for Aprilia in seventh place, ahead of top Honda rider Johann Zarco in eighth and Aleix Espargaro on the second of the factory Aprilias in ninth.

Despite falling on the sighting lap in the worst of the weather conditions, Alex Marquez made it back to complete the top 10, leading brother and team-mate Marc in 11th after the six-time MotoGP world champion remounted for a points finish.

Marquez was initially docked one position, behind Honda’s Luca Marini, for “irresponsible riding” while battling with former team-mate Joan Mir, but video evidence showed Marquez had already given the place back, meaning he was eventually classified 11th.

Marquez wasn’t the only rider to fall victim to the conditions with Enea Bastianini also crashing, though the Italian got going again for a 14th place finish behind Takaaki Nakagami, the final point going the way of Mir.

Elsewhere, Marco Bezzecchi was another to crash out, while both Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins fell to leave Yamaha pointless.

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EPL: Fulham must move on from defeat to Manchester City — Iwobi

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Alex Iwobi says Fulham must stay positive despite their 5-4 defeat to Manchester City at Craven Cottage on Tuesday.

Marco Silva’s side put up a spirited display in the encounter, and were unlucky not to get at least one point.

Iwobi started the fight back by scoring the second goal for Fulham early in the second half.

The versatile midfielder’s compatriot, Samuel Chukwueze then rose from the bench to score two more goals for the Cottagers.

Manchester City, however, held on to go home with maximum points.

Iwobi stated that they deserved more from the game.

“I feel disappointed because we didn’t get anything out of the fighting spirit that we showed, but I think we have to take the positivity from the game,” Iwobi told the club’s official website.

Fulham will be away to Crystal Palace in their next Premier League game on Sunday.

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EPL: Guardiola names team that impresses him everyday

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Manchester City boss, Pep Guardiola has named the Premier League club that has impressed him so much this season.

The Spaniard said that Enzo Maresca’s side have really impressed him with the improvement they make everyday.

Speaking after Manchester City beat Fulham 5-4 in the Premier League on Tuesday night, Guardiola pointed out that a team must remain consistent to win the title.

Pep Guardiola’s side closed the gap at the top of the Premier League to just two points behind Arsenal with the victory over Fulham, but the Gunners could maintain their five points lead with a win over Brentford on Wednesday night.

“Chelsea impresses me more and more every day with Enzo [Maresca], but it’s long,” he told reporters after the win.

“Premier League is so long, many things will happen. We won six Premier Leagues, four or five when we in December, January or February we were behind.

“The team who wins the Premier League is the team who grows during the months and this is what we try to do. No injuries, it’s so long.

“But at the same time, if we push, we will be better and push ourselves and control the situations better, the emotions and we will see what happens.”

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Outrage As ‘Biological Male’ Wins World’s Strongest Woman Event in Texas (Photos)

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The 2025 World’s Strongest Woman final has sparked outrage after an alleged transgender athlete won gold.

American Jammie Booker, who is accused of being a biological male, beat Great Britain’s Andrea Thompson to victory at the event in Arlington, Texas.

According to Mail Online, Thompson walked off the podium, appearing to say ‘this is bulls***,’ while Booker celebrated. The Brit has since been crowned the ‘true World’s Strongest Woman’ by her coach and some of her peers.

Rebecca Roberts, a three-time winner of World’s Strongest Woman, has sensationally claimed that no one – not even the organizers – knew about Booker’s background.

Details on the American are not clear, but the publication sighted a YouTube video – uploaded to what appears to be Booker’s YouTube channel in September 2017, with Booker saying: ‘Everyone is dying to tell their own story and I am obviously no exception to that.

‘I’m 21-year-old trans woman with a history of abuse, struggling to stay true to herself while under the rule of her religious parents.’

On Monday night, Roberts posted a picture on Instagram that read ‘Protect Women’s Sports.’ She wrote alongside the picture: ‘I hold no hate toward transgender people. Everyone deserves dignity, respect, and the freedom to live their truth.

But I cannot stay silent about something that threatens the fairness and future of women’s strength sports. Transgender women, people born male, should not be competing in the women’s category.

This isn’t about identity. It isn’t about politics. It’s about the undeniable physical differences that exist in strength-based sports… differences that don’t disappear, and that matter more here than almost anywhere else. Women’s categories were created for a reason, and if we lose that, we lose the foundation of our sport.

‘What happened this weekend wasn’t transparent. None of us knew. Not even the organisers knew. And when fairness is taken by surprise, trust in the sport begins to crack.

‘My message is simple. Trans people belong in sport, but women’s divisions must remain biologically born female-only.

‘I love this sport. I have given my life to it. And I won’t ignore something that could quietly change it forever. Congratulations to @andreathompson_strongwoman… the true World’s Strongest Woman 2025’

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