Marco Bezzecchi’s dramatic fall from grace: is the wrong approach to blame?

With a 20-point lead over his Aprilia team-mate Jorge Martin, Marco Bezzecchi arrived in Brno in mid-June as the World Championship leader. There, following his crash in the sprint race, the Italian had a outburst at a marshal – something he is still ashamed of today. As a penalty, ‘Bez’ was suspended for Sunday’s Czech Grand Prix, but he still remained eight points clear at the top of the World Championship standings because Martin could only manage to pick up twelve points over the weekend.

At Assen, the championship lead changed hands: Bezzecchi finished fourth in the Sprint, whilst in the Grand Prix the Aprilia ace crashed on the second lap after his front wheel slipped out from under him at 200 km/h in Turn 15. As a result, Martin suddenly found himself seven points ahead in the overall standings.

At the Sachsenring, Bezzecchi broke his left collarbone in qualifying and was therefore forced to miss both races. The 27-year-old and Aprilia hope that he will be back in action and reasonably fit after the summer break at the weekend of 7–9 August at Silverstone in England .

The World Championship standings so far: 1. Jorge Martin (Aprilia), 208 points. 2. Ai Ogura (Aprilia), 194. 3. Marc Márquez (Ducati), 190. 4. Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia), 186. 5. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ducati), 184.

Just bad luck, or is there more to it?

In the first eight Grands Prix of the year, Bezzecchi triumphed four times and finished second twice. His crashes at Brno, Assen and the Sachsenring turned the tide. Was it all just bad luck, or is there more to it? Was Bezzecchi unable to cope with the pressure? SPEEDWEEK.com asked Superbike World Championship leader Nicolo Bulega, who battled Toprak Razgatlioglu on the BMW for the world title in 2024 and 2025 – and lost on both occasions.

After 23 wins in 24 races so far in the 2026 season, the 26-year-old lost to his Aruba Ducati team-mate Iker Lecuona in the first race at Donington Park, Bulega is well on course to clinch the title as early as the third-last round in Cremona at the end of September.

If you’re not at 100 per cent in MotoGP, you’ll finish tenth.

Superbike World Championship leader Niccolò Bulega

“Marco is in a different situation to the one I was in against Toprak,” Bulega emphasised. “It was just Toprak and me. If one of us didn’t win, the other would – and then we’d just finish second. In MotoGP, if you’re not at 100 per cent, you’ll finish tenth. If you want to win a championship, you sometimes have to accept finishing sixth, seventh or eighth and taking the points. Just like Martin, Ogura and Marquez do. If Marc can win, he wins. If he can only manage fifth or sixth, then he finishes fifth or sixth. Speed is important for winning a championship. But it’s even more important to pick up points in every race.”