Andrea Dovizioso won the opening round of 2019 MotoGP season after defeating Marc Marquez by less than three hundredths of a second.
Dovizioso took the lead from Marquez at the very last corner, as the Ducati rider beat him and repeated last year's race.
Cal Crutchlow was the second LCR Honda, making it two on the podium while Alex Rins finished fourth. Valentino Rossi, after starting from 14th, made a brilliant recovery and finished as high as 5th.
Polesitter Maverick Vinales meanwhile, finished 7th after losing pace, ahead of Danilo Petrucci on the other Ducati.
The race was heavily disappointing for the rookie Fabio Quartararo, who started from pitlane after stalling his bike before the formation lap. He quickly showed pace and set multiple fastest laps earlier in the race.
Lots of riders fought for the lead early on, with Dovizioso taking an early lead from polesitter Maverick Vinales.
Alex Rins on the Suzuki overtook Dovizioso briefly, after losing lead to the Italian again, the two then battled for the lead throughout the race.
At Lap 11, Alex Rins ran a bit wide, giving Marquez a chance to overtake and leaving Dovizioso to lead as Rins dropped to 4th. Rins took back 2nd lap soon afterwards, but made a big mistake by overbraking at T1.
The lead battle then settled between Dovizioso and Marquez, as Marquez passed the Ducati rider at penultimate lap but in the end, it was Dovizioso who won the race after taking back the lead at final lap as Marquez battled him through the chequered flag in a drag race, with 0.023s separating them.
Crutchlow was third after Rins' big mistake, finishing ahead of Rins and Rossi, with the latter making a great recovery from 14th.
Petrucci finished 6th, followed by Vinales who dropped at the start and lost pace, settling in 7th.
Joan Mir was rookie of the weekend, finishing 8th ahead of Takaaki Nakagami and Aleix Espargaro to round up Top 10.
Morbidelli was next, who battled with Rossi earlier in the race but came 11th in the race ahead of Espargaro.
Honda debutant Jorge Lorenzo finished 13th in the race, followed by Andrea Iannone, Johann Zarco and Fabio Quartararo.
Miguel Oliveira, Karel Abraham and Hafizh Syahrin completed the Top 20 as both Alma Pramac Ducatis retired while wildcard for Aprilia Racing Bradley Smith crashed in the race.
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