With 21 points splitting Bagnaia and Martin coming into this weekend’s finale in Valencia, the former could have won the championship in the sprint by outscoring his rival by at least four points.
But, despite leading early on, Bagnaia could only finish fifth on his factory Ducati as Martin stormed through to win and cut his points deficit down to 14 going into Sunday’s grand prix.
Martin beat KTM’s Brad Binder, while Marc Marquez completed the podium on his Honda as he gets set for his farewell with the Japanese marque on Sunday.
Having turned around his miserable Friday form in which he fell into Q1, Bagnaia launched from second on the grid on his Ducati and took the holeshot at the start.
But poleman Maverick Vinales on the Aprilia immediately struck back, taking the lead into Turn 2 as Martin moved up to third from sixth on the grid.
Martin then launched a raid on Bagnaia into Turn 11, with the latter snapping back on the exit to hold onto second.
However, this all allowed Binder to draw alongside, with the KTM rider, Marquez and Martin overtaking Bagnaia into Turn 12 to demote him to fifth.
Source: Autosport