MotoGP Assen, FP1: Bezzecchi puts Brno behind him and leads Aprilia's resurgence, Marquez crashes

Aprilia-Ducati duel in the Netherlands: Bezzecchi just ahead of Bagnaia, Marc slides out. Vinales best KTM.

The first MotoGP free practice session at the TT Circuit Assen ends with Marco Bezzecchi’s Aprilia on top. He leads Pecco Bagnaia’s Ducati by 98 thousandths and Jorge Martin’s RS-GP26 by 144 thousandths. It shows that what happened in Brno hasn’t affected him. He’s learned the lesson and is now focused solely on what he needs to do on track to make his dream of becoming world champion come true.

Four Aprilias in the top 6, with Ai Ogura fifth and Raul Fernandez sixth. Fourth is the Pertamina VR46 team Ducati ridden by Fabio Di Giannantonio, 160 thousandths behind Bezzecchi. Noteworthy is a crash for Marc Marquez at Turn 2: he lost the front and went down, fortunately without physical consequences. His Desmosedici GP26 was damaged, which will mean some work in the Ducati Lenovo garage.

Paolo Bonora, Aprilia Racing race manager, spoke to Sky Sport MotoGP about the Noale team’s expectations for this weekend at the TT Circuit: "A historically good track for us; we’ve worked well here in the past and we’re aiming to do well. In the last two Grands Prix we struggled, even if not so much in terms of performance. We lost points, but we remain positive; we know our potential and that of our riders".

With Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi, many points slipped away between Hungary and the Czech Republic, but Ai Ogura showed that Aprilia still had great potential: "What we saw with Ogura means a lot," Bonora commented — the bike was there. We weren’t able to put everything together with Jorge, while something else happened to Marco. I thought Ogura could do even a bit better, but congratulations to him".

Bezzecchi arrived in the Netherlands after the Brno incident, where he slapped a marshal. Not an easy situation, but the Aprilia race manager believes the rider is calm enough and determined to bounce back: "It was certainly not an easy situation for him and also for the team. We like to see that he’s a very intelligent rider; he understood he made a big mistake and can only learn from what happened. He’s very calm and aware that this is a chapter in his story that can only make him better. He has to restart with the awareness that he can get good results and that the team is with him".

Ducati has become stronger compared to the start of the season, and Bonora knows the fight for the 2026 MotoGP world title will be tough: "Not throwing away points has become even more important. We never thought we had already won, not even after Mugello, when we had a much bigger lead. We knew our rivals would work to catch up; we know their value and we never let up. We made missteps at Balaton and Brno, but we’re confident and looking ahead".

Bezzecchi, Bagnaia, Martin, Di Giannantonio, Ogura and Fernandez are the top 6, then comes the Honda of a strong Joan Mir. The two-time world champion seems on the ball at the TT Circuit, eager to be a protagonist again. Behind him is Fermin Aldeguer’s Ducati and then Maverick Vinales’ KTM, who at Assen is looking to take a step forward compared to other Grands Prix. He doesn’t yet have a seat for 2027 and on Thursday he lashed out at KTM, which could push him further from the chance to stay with the Tech3 garage. The top 10 is closed out by Marc Marquez, ahead of Pedro Acosta’s RC16, his future teammate.

Remember that from this weekend there are