Pramac Ducati’s Andrea Iannone led the way through the opening lap, trailed by Rossi and Marquez in second and third. Pedrosa was keeping close in fourth with Rossi’s teammate, Jorge Lorenzo, trailing in fifth. On Lap 2, the dark clouds looming overhead and few spots of rain falling in places drove officials to wave the white flag, giving riders the option of coming in and swapping for a wet condition set-up. Teams scrambled to prep the second bikes, but the threat soon subsided and competition continued on.



Subsequent rotations saw Lorenzo drop back to seventh as Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow pushed ahead. Crutchlow even made it ahead of Pedrosa for a period into fourth-place but as the race progressed the Ducati riders dropped back to fifth and sixth.

Out front, Iannone maintained the lead for the first 10 laps before Rossi and Marquez closed in. Marquez started with a pass on Rossi for second position and then set to work on Iannone, who put up a spirited fight to defend the lead. Marquez made his move to the front stick and then Rossi made a pass on the Ducati rider soon after. Pedrosa followed the front runners, passing Iannone quickly after Rossi made his move, dropping Iannone from first to fourth in the space of about a lap and a half.

Marquez began to stretch a gap while Pedrosa clung tight to Rossi’s rear tire. Lorenzo looked keen to join the action as well, getting ahead of Iannone with 16 laps remaining. The spots of rain returned mid-way through the race and Lorenzo’s caution caused him to drop back to seventh. With 11 laps to go he and Iannone made a strategic move to the pits for a bike swap, rolling out on wet condition set-ups and dropping to the back of the pack. The move didn’t pay off in the end as serious rains never came, resulting in Lorenzo pulling in to the pits once again five laps later and not returning to the contest.

“In Aragon I decided to come into the pits and it was a good decision, but here it was not raining enough for the rear tire to work well. I was losing a lot of time as the slicks were dropping because of the water,” said Lorenzo. “The other riders were more confident. They weren’t scared to make a mistake, so they were faster and I kept losing time. Like in Aragon, instead of finishing in fifth, sixth or seventh position, I prefer to take risks, but today we didn’t have the luck we had there. I entered the pits and I was losing time every lap. I was five or six seconds slower than the others and eventually I decided to stop.”

Marquez had stretched a comfortable gap out front on Rossi and coasted across the line for the win. It was a good day for Marquez all around as he also celebrates his brother Alex’s Moto3 championship win, which came earlier in the day. 

“I am so pleased, especially for my brother! It is a very happy day, even more than in Motegi when I was crowned Champion,” said Marquez. “Today Alex took the Moto3 title that he deserved, and to cap it off I was able to close the year with a victory here in Valencia. I congratulate my brother for his season, because both him and Honda have done a great job this year! Now it's time to celebrate in the way that the occasion deserves, because it will be difficult to repeat another season like this.”

With Iannone and Lorenzo out of the top-five, Dovi and Crutchlow slipped up to fourth and fifth position, battling one another to the line. Dovi eventually got the upper hand, leaving Crutchlow to finish fifth. Tech 3 Yamaha’s Pol Espargaro finished sixth ahead of his brother and NGM Mobile Forward Racing rider Aleix Espargaro. LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl took eighth with Ducati’s Michele Pirro in ninth and Go & Fun Honda Gresini’s Scott Redding taking 10th.

Further back, Suzuki’s return to MotoGP competition proved to be short lived, with Randy de Puniet pulling into the pit  and out of the contest on Lap 12. 

MotoGP Valencia Results 2014 
1. Marc Marquez (Honda) 
2. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 
3. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 
4. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) 
5. Cal Crutchlow (Ducati) 
6. Pol Espargaro (Yamaha) 
7. Aleix Espargaro (Forward-Yamaha) 
8. Stefan Bradl (Honda) 
9. Michele Pirro (Ducati) 
10. Scott Redding (Honda) 
11. Hector Barbera (Ducati) 
12. Danilo Petrucci (ART) 
13. Nicky Hayden (Honda) 
14. Bradley Smith (Yamaha) 
15. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda) 
16. Alvaro Bautista (Honda) 
17. Karel Abraham (Honda) 
18. Alex De Angelis (Forward-Yamaha) 
19. Michael Laverty (PBM) 
20. Broc Parkes (PBM) 
21. Mike Di Meglio (Avintia) 
22. Andrea Iannone (Ducati)

MotoGP Championship Points 2014 
1. Marc Marquez, 362 
2. Valentino Rossi, 295 
3. Jorge Lorenzo, 263 
4. Dani Pedrosa, 246 
5. Andrea Dovizioso, 187 
6. Pol Espargaro, 136 
7. Aleix Espargaro, 126 
8. Bradley Smith, 121 
9. Stefan Bradl, 117 
10. Andrea Iannone, 102