Bezzecchi secures third place for 2025, but Aprilia investigates: "We need to understand what happened"

Bezzecchi is mathematically on the podium of the 2025 MotoGP World Championship, but off the sprint podium in Valencia: something didn’t work quite right.

He started from pole position and was among the favorites to take one of the top three final spots, but Marco Bezzecchi went no further than fifth place in the MotoGP sprint race in Valencia. A few riders passed him at the start and he couldn’t score more than 5 points, but he can still celebrate: the bronze medal for the 2025 championship is mathematically his—Pedro Acosta and Pecco Bagnaia have no chance of taking it from him.

It’s a fine achievement for him and Aprilia, which had never gone beyond Aleix Espargaro’s fourth place in 2022 in MotoGP. The rider from Rimini had already finished third in 2023, his second year in the class. The foundations seem to be there to do something bigger in 2026, even if the Marc Marquez–Ducati pairing will remain the favorite to win.

Finishing third in the World Championship is satisfying, but in his interview with Sky Sport MotoGP the Romagna rider seemed more annoyed about this afternoon’s race: "Happy with third place in the championship, not so much with the sprint. It’s been a good season so far, but we need to make up for it on Sunday. I’m not happy to finish like this".

Bezzecchi explained what didn’t go well in the very early stages of the sprint race, revealing that he had the same issue for the rest of the race: "At the start I couldn’t disengage the holeshot device, but theoretically it wasn’t a problem, because when I saw Alex release the brakes, I released them too. That’s precisely why it didn’t disengage, but it was pointless to resist him on the outside and I cut back underneath. I’d positioned myself well to try to pass him in Turn 2 or at least brake late to defend from those behind, but on acceleration something didn’t work there or in the following corners. We need to understand what happened, because it happened another two or three times during the race. For example, when I passed Quartararo and he got back by me precisely because of this problem."

By analyzing the data, the Aprilia team should be able to understand the issue and solve it ahead of the final race of the season. The rider would have liked to finish further up, but he didn’t have it in him: "When everything settled down—he adds—I was already behind. The soft front was the right choice to stay in the top two or three, but I ended up back there and then it didn’t help, though it was more a consequence. I don’t really know what happened, but it felt like I wasn’t going…".

Asked by Max Biaggi whether he could do as he did in Portimao, where he won the Sunday race after finishing third in the sprint, the rider from Rimini replied: "Maybe—I really hope so. The important thing is to learn and use what happens as lessons. First we need to understand what happened; I’m sure the guys are already in the garage working like crazy. Hopefully it can help us for tomorrow and we can have a great race."

Bezzecchi wants to end his first year as a factory MotoGP rider on a high; with Aprilia he has built a great human and professional relationship. The goal is certainly to be on the podium at the end of the race in Valencia.