Marco Bezecchi squandered a potential victory in the Thai Grand Prix sprint on Saturday. Bezeci, who started on pole, was battling Marc Marquez in the early stages.
Bezechichi He set the lap record in Friday’s practice session, and while he couldn’t go faster in qualifying, he still beat Marquez by three hundredths of a second.
The world champion took the lead at the start but Bezeci fought back. He fell in the eighth lap just as it looked like he was going to pull away with two laps to go.
Marco Bezecchi falls from the lead in the Buriram Sprint Race!
Can Bezecci withstand the pressure of the MotoGP title fight?
of Aprilia The rider had crashed twice in the morning, including in Q2, but this was the first truly costly mistake of the season.
Massimo Rivola told the riders ‘the world championship is not just for today’.
to speak TNT Sports Before the race, Aprilia boss Massimo Rivola He warned that the title would not be decided at the opening and urged the riders to think long term.
While Rivola recognizes the importance of taking chances, Bezeci seems to have gone too far here. Marquez was not fast enough to escape Pedro Acosta.So the RS-GP26 could finally be released.
It has still been a very encouraging start to the season for Aprilia, with Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez taking the sprint podium on Saturday and the other three riders finishing in the top five.
Pedro Acosta scores his first MotoGP win at the Buriram Sprint Race!
Who was your Sprint Race driver at the 2026 Thai Grand Prix?
“I hope my riders will think long-term instead of giving everything in one shot,” said Rivola. “The World Championship is not just for today or tomorrow, we have to play smart.
“When we have the opportunity and opportunity, we must take it, and if not, if there is no opportunity, we must not take foolish risks.”
‘Marc Marquez shakes his feather’ – Neil Hodgson on Marc Marquez
Bezcicci finished 2025 as the in-form rider on the grid, albeit helped by an enforced absence. Marquez. The Italian won the last two races of the year in Portugal and Valencia.
He is making his 83rd Premier League start this weekend, but TNT’s Neil Hodgson is concerned he continues to make mistakes in ‘high-pressure situations’.
Hodgson pointed out that Bezeci crashed in the Indonesian GP last October, slipping back from pole on the opening lap and clashing with Marquez.
The veteran Spaniard suspected Bezecic of placing him in Saturday’s race at Buriram.
Hodgson said: “He obviously made this big mistake and fell on Marc Marquez.” “We’ve seen him take advantage before, almost under these strange and intense pressures, make these mistakes. Today is his third accident! It’s amazing!
“I didn’t think it was going to happen, I thought he was going to take control from the front. But Mark ruffled feathers, as he has done so many times over the last 15 years.
If Bezeci is to challenge for the title this year, as some have predicted, he urgently needs to dispel this narrative.
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