Bezzecchi on the title fight with Marquez: “Realistically, it’s complicated.” And on Ogura: “No hard feelings.”

Marco Bezzecchi isn’t hiding his feelings. After a Sepang race that proved tougher than expected, the Aprilia rider admitted that catching Marc Marquez in the MotoGP title race is now an uphill battle, though he is not throwing in the towel.

The rider from Rimini spoke after the race, addressing three topics: his struggles with the front tyre, his clash with fellow Aprilia rider Ai Ogura, and his remaining hopes of winning the championship.

Asked about his chances of challenging Marquez for the world title, Bezzecchi took a realistic approach. "Let’s say it’s very difficult", he explained in comments collected by Manuel Pecino for Motosan. However, the rider has no intention of giving up: he will keep believing and working as hard as possible every day, both at home and on race weekends, fully aware that the situation is far from easy.

Saturday’s feeling had raised hopes of a better result. In the race, though, the front tyre’s temperature and wear rose far beyond expectations. Bezzecchi tried to push straight away to stay in touch with Alex Marquez and Pedro Acosta, even attempting what he himself described as a "somewhat desperate" move on Alex. "I almost managed it, almost, but then he got back past me on the acceleration, and at that point I realised it would be very difficult to make it to the end", he said.

After losing the front a couple of times, the Aprilia rider switched to a more defensive riding style, but ended up wearing out the rear tyre as well: by entering the corners slowly, he was forced to get back on the throttle too early. Bezzecchi sees both sides of the coin. The downside was a result below expectations; the upside was the comparison with last year: "The step forward we’ve made has been huge, because last year we struggled even more".

There was also contact with Ai Ogura in the closing stages of the battle between the two Aprilias, but Bezzecchi played down the incident. "To be completely honest, he was faster than me at that point. I think he would have passed me a couple of corners later anyway, as he eventually did", he explained. In his view, the real risk was not the contact itself, but the possibility of both riders crashing. "This is a sport where things like this can happen sometimes, so there are no hard feelings".

The Rimini rider has already moved on. Next up is Qatar, where he will try to keep alive a title campaign that, by his own admission, now seems increasingly out of reach.

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