Behind him, team-mates Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo battled over second place, which ulitmately went in Lorenzo's favour when the Italian ran wide after making a pass with two laps to go.
Maverick Vinales led in the early stages for Suzuki, on his way to fourth place.
Danilo Petrucci received a ride-through penalty for an unseen incident with team-mate Scott Redding.
2006 world champion Nicky Hayden was making a return to MotoGP, in place of the injured Jack Miller.
Alex Lowes had been due to replace the injured Bradley Smith for the third time, but was been deemed unfit to race after foot injuries on Saturday.