Defending world champion Marquez led the way in an enthralling race heading into the final lap, but was caught by Pedrosa, who was attempting to prevent his Spanish compatriot from equalling Valentino Rossi’s record of seven straight MotoGP wins.
The two riders traded places on multiple occasions, but the drama came at turn 11 as Pedrosa clipped Marquez’s back wheel, seeing the second-placed rider run wide and allowing Marquez to take victory.
However, the 21-year-old Marquez was quick to make light of the incident.
“I could feel the rear at that moment but everyone is pushing on the last lap and it’s normal that sometimes there is contact, but we were lucky and nothing happened,” Marquez said.
“It was unfortunate for him (Pedrosa) because he ran wide but sometimes the races are like that.”
Rossi had led for a large portion of the race before slipping back to third but he also took advantage of that incident to finish second, just 0.5 seconds behind Marquez.
And the Spaniard conceded that the grand prix in his home city of Barcelona had been one of the most difficult of the season.
“Today was a really, really tough race, even more than (the Italian Grand Prix) Mugello, especially in the last laps,” he added.
“I was able to follow Valentino but I saw that I was on the limit and I went wide a lot because I didn’t want to take any risks with the other riders and I lost time.
“But I came back strong and on the last laps we had a really nice battle with Dani and Valentino; also Jorge (Lorenzo) was there but a little bit far, but especially with Dani it was very nice.
“I’m very happy to take all 25 points in my home city. It is so special to win at home, especially after the crash in qualifying.”
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