Magny-Cours 2026, Race 1: Bulega returns immediately to the top

The 2026 Superbike World Championship is essentially synonymous with Nicolò Bulega: also on the occasion of Race 1 of the Magny-Cours Round, the world championship leader claimed victory right in front of his teammate Iker Lecuona and the British Sam Lowes, resuming the summer break in the best possible way after the last round in England, where the Aruba.it team and Ducati had won the titles reserved for teams and manufacturers.

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Race report

At the start, Bulega remained at the top of the standings, but the real protagonist during the first lap was teammate Iker Lecuona: starting from third position, the Spaniard first overtook Sam Lowes, then aggressively attacked the world championship leader. From that moment on, a great battle began between the two for first place, characterized by overtakes and counter-overtakes especially at the Adelaide corner braking zone. The two fought ahead of the Lowes brothers, Sam and Alex, but the race was stopped on lap 9 following the crash of Thomas Bridewell, with the track marshals forced to intervene to fix the air fence at corner 14.

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At the restart, with 12 laps still to go, the duel within Aruba.it continued, with Lecuona returning to the lead for just one lap: Bulega, in fact, regained the lead on the following lap, also setting the new race lap record. From then on, the Reggio Emilia rider increased his gap over Lecuona, securing his 24th win of the season across Race 1, Superpole Race, and Race 2.

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Magny-Cours 2026, Race 1: finishing order