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Honda's reigning world champion Marc Marquez
finished a mere 0.027 seconds behind the man who took last
season's title battle down to the wire.
Valentino Rossi, the Italian great starting his 23rd grand prix
season at the age of 39 and with a new two-year Yamaha contract
freshly signed, joined them on the podium after the night-time
race.
Dovizioso had started eighth but seized the lead from Frenchman
Johann Zarco, who had set the pace from pole position, with five
laps to go and pulled away with Marquez in close pursuit.
The Spaniard made his move at the last corner of the last lap
but failed to make it stick, with Dovizioso using the Ducati's
power to take his ninth MotoGP win.
Britain's Cal Crutchlow was fourth for LCR Honda, the best
non-factory rider, with Zarco dropping to eighth as his tyres
lost performance.
"It was a perfect race, perfect weekend," said Dovizioso of his
first win in Qatar after three times finishing runner-up.
"We did a really bad start but I was calm. I recovered very
slowly and saved a lot the tyres and was able to push at the
end," added the Italian.
"As always with Marc, the last lap is very difficult but I was
able to beat him again."
Marquez, winner of four of the last five MotoGP titles, did all
he could at a track he sees as one of his most difficult.
"When Dovi was pushing I was losing the front, losing the rear
but anyway I arrived close in the last corner. I tried," said
the Spaniard.
"Again he beat me, but I'm very happy. Here a podium was the
main target."
In a tightly-fought race, with the pack jostling for position
behind Zarco before Dovizioso's move, the gap between winner and
Honda's Dani Pedrosa in seventh place was just 4.6 seconds.
Rossi took the chequered flag 0.797 behind Dovizioso with
Spanish team mate Maverick Vinales, last year's winner in Qatar,
sixth.
"I expect more compared to last year, because with this year's
bike I feel good," said Rossi, who won one race in 2017 and
finished fifth overall despite breaking his leg at the end of
August.
"I know that Marquez and Dovizioso are faster at the moment,
they have a little bit more, so when Dovi went in front I tried
to give 120 percent to stay with them."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Toby Davis and
Pritha Sarkar)
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