Bezzecchi (6th): “Fight as long as there’s a mathematical chance”

Let’s start with the positives: in 2025, an Aprilia factory rider would have been delighted with a second-row grid position and sixth place in the Grand Prix race. In his last outing on the RS-GP in the sweltering heat of Malaysia, the rider from Rimini hadn’t even made it through to Q2; now he started from fifth on the grid. At the Grand Prix, ‘Bez’ narrowly missed out on the top 10 in the tropical heat; in 2026, the World Championship bronze medallist finished sixth.

Bezzecchi didn’t forget to mention this during the debrief following the Malaysian GP: “There are two sides to every coin. I’ll admit that after the sprint I’d expected a bit more, but if we compare this result with last year’s, we’ve taken a huge step forward – so we didn’t do such a bad job after all.”

In the early stages of the 20-lap Grand Prix race, things seemed to be going even better. Bezzecchi briefly clawed his way up to fourth place, closing in on the leaders and lapping faster than the dominant Marc Márquez. But the tide turned quickly. Bezzecchi: “At the start of the race, the set-up worked well for a few laps, but it soon became clear that the front tyre temperature was going to be a problem. And that’s exactly what happened. I then went on the attack sooner rather than later and managed to get past Alex at least once. But when he was back in front, I already knew that was the end of my push to the front.”

Willkommen zum Rennen in Sepang

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Marco Bezzecchi

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Pecco Bagnaia und Marc Márquez

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Fans

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Fabio Quartararo

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Pedro Acosta

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Start des Rennens

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Enea Bastianini

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Marc Márquez

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Fabio Di'Giannantonio

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Alex Márquez

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Marco Bezzecchi

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Fabio Quartararo

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Brad Binder

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Marc Márquez

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Alex Márquez

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Ai Ogura und Marco Bezzecchi

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Pedro Acosta

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Marc Márquez gewinnt das Rennen

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Sieger Marc Márquez

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Marc Márquez und Team

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Pedro Acosta, Marc Márquez, Alex Márquez

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Sieger Marc Márquez

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Willkommen zum Rennen in Sepang

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In the closing stages, the pace kept dropping. First, Ai Ogura overtook him after a fierce duel. Bezzecchi on the battle, in which the two RS-GPs clashed and which left the Italian formally as the last Aprilia rider on the track: “The fact is that Ai was quicker at that stage of the race – he would have overtaken me one way or another. However, I don’t think a manoeuvre involving contact was necessary. I’m not angry about it, though; that sort of thing is just part of our sport.”

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Shortly before the finish, Marco Bezzecchi was also pushed back to sixth place by KTM Tech3 rider Enea Bastianini. ‘Bez’ explained his poor finish: ‘To preserve my worn front tyre, I went into the corners more slowly but came out of them harder. In doing so, I ended up ruining my rear tyre right at the very end.’

Giving up is not an option

The Italian commented on the bitter setback with a realistic yet combative attitude, with an eye on the World Championship standings: “Of course, the result isn’t good; at this stage of the World Championship, you absolutely must avoid poor results. So it’s going to be very difficult. But at the same time, we’ll continue to give it our all. As long as there’s a mathematical chance of winning the title, we’ll keep fighting.”

The facts are overwhelming: Marc Marquez has now extended his lead over the top Aprilia rider, Jorge Martin, to 44 points. With three rounds remaining in the 2026 season, Marco Bezzecchi trails ‘MM93’ by 67 points.