Cursed tear-off at the start, then the rain: Bezzecchi's off day at Jerez

A matter of... tear-off visor! Hence Marco Bezzecchi’s terrible start, and then the rain joined the party.

The chaos in today’s MotoGP Sprint caused by the arrival of rain certainly created more than a few problems. For Marco Bezzecchi, however, the trouble began well before that—specifically before the start of Saturday’s mini-race at Jerez. The tear-off visor removed by Alex Marquez at the exit of the final corner on the sighting lap first landed on the wing, then fell and slipped right under the rear wheel of the #72 Aprilia! A truly unlucky incident that visibly slowed him at the start, in a race that, however, ended after just three laps due to a crash.

It should be remembered that there is no written rule on this, as Marc Marquez pointed out at the 2024 Phillip Island GP (and that time he himself was at risk due to force majeure), but rather only a tacit agreement among all riders and teams in the World Championship to minimize risks, at least in that context. We are talking about the starting grid—plainly put, from where the marks on the asphalt begin—while in today’s case with Alex Marquez, the tear-off visor was removed at the exit of the last corner, thus still far from the actual starting grid.

That’s really how we can describe Marco Bezzecchi’s race today, as he remains championship leader despite today’s zero. The regret is clear. “It ruined my Sprint, there wasn’t much I could do,” he told Sky Sport MotoGP. “I think if you try a thousand more times to get a tear-off on the wing, it stays there, and right before the start it comes off and goes onto the rear tire... There’s not much you can do, really,” he added with a bitter laugh. “In that moment I didn’t notice anything, then we saw the video: Alex took it off where you’re allowed to, but I was right behind him. It happens and there’s not much to say, we’ll focus on bouncing back tomorrow.”

The start is terrible: it spins up, he slips back to 15th, then tries to climb back… But then comes the rain and the chaos. “I pitted one lap late, then when I came back out on rains the tire wasn’t ready and as soon as I leaned over I also crashed. I really did a masterpiece.” His mind is on tomorrow: “There’s not much to say, let’s think about making up for it.” Where can he improve? “We struggled especially in T1, which I’d like to improve because it’s also a good place for overtakes, and in T3, which I’ve already improved a bit, but I still don’t feel quite right. T2 and T4 are going well for now, I hope to keep it up.”