Melandri defends Marc Márquez: “Only someone who has never ridden a bike on a track could blame him”

For Marco Melandri, there is no Márquez controversy. The former rider, speaking on his podcast Chiacchiere da Box, firmly defended the Ducati champion over his contact with Marco Bezzecchi in the Qatar Sprint and had some harsh words for the reaction from the Aprilia pit wall, accusing the paddock of applying double standards.

His stance runs counter to the post-race mood. Massimo Rivola, CEO of Aprilia Racing, had criticized the Steward Panel’s decision not to penalize Márquez.

In Melandri’s view, there is no room for interpretation: “Only someone who has never ridden a motorcycle on a racetrack could blame Márquez, because he had nothing to do with it. He was on his usual line coming out of the previous corner. Bezzecchi was unlucky because Marc was picking the bike up, had more grip, and when they made contact his front wheel lifted and he crashed. It was a racing incident.”

The rider from Romagna then brought up a still-controversial incident, the 2015 Argentina Grand Prix involving Valentino Rossi: “I wonder why, in Argentina in 2015, when Márquez was on the inside and Rossi changed his line, causing Marc to crash, Márquez was blamed—and now he’s being blamed again. What determines who is right: personal sympathies or what happens on track?”

His verdict on Aprilia’s protest after Bezzecchi’s crash was even more pointed. Melandri did not hold back when discussing Noale’s top man: “It struck me as an inappropriate reaction. A team boss has to maintain a certain level of composure. I didn’t expect such childish behavior. It’s true that he was gracious on television afterward, but in seven minutes he mentioned Márquez 22 times. That shows how much he gets under his skin, and that his only consolation is thinking that Marc—not the bike—was the one who beat him.”

The former rider also took a broader look at the entire Losail weekend, starting with a grid that was down to the bare minimum: “I saw the start and it didn’t look like MotoGP, it looked like Superbike. Bagnaia, Alex Márquez and the Yamahas were missing. Three qualifying sessions and so many Sprints are a punishing schedule. In the end, there are too many injured riders.”

He also discussed the frightening collision between Fermin Aldeguer and Pedro Acosta, which Melandri put down to the particular conditions of the Qatari asphalt: “There’s wind in the desert, and there’s sand off the clean racing line. Acosta braked in the middle of the track to defend his position, and Aldeguer went up the inside on the dirty part. When you brake on sand, the bike doesn’t stop—it sent him flying in a terrible crash.” Melandri’s comments will not put an end to the controversy, but they add an authoritative voice to those who see the contact with Bezzecchi as nothing more than a racing incident.

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