Marco Bezzecchi
Fermin Aldeguer took his maiden podium finish as a MotoGP rider in the Sprint Race at the French Grand Prix, after joining Marc and Alex Marquez in the top three positions.
The 20-year-old is just six rounds into his debut MotoGP season after Ducati put Aldeguer at Gresini for his breakthrough. But the Spaniard has had to watch his teammate Alex Marquez emerge as a real title rival for Marc Marquez since he replaced the latter at the Faenza crew.
His results were initially steady with Aldeguer kicking off his premier class career with P13 in the Thai Grand Prix and P16 in the Argentina Grand Prix. But his speed started to emerge in America, despite crashing, and finally yielded a top-three spot in the Sprint at the French GP.
Fermin Aldeguer finds Marc Marquez’s strength in left-hand corners at Le Mans ‘scary’
Aldeguer even qualified fourth for the French GP, and his lap time was 0.205 seconds slower than Alex Marquez managed to get a front-row start. He also barged past French Grand Prix pole-winner Fabio Quartararo to get into third place on Lap 10/13 of the Sprint on Saturday.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Marc Marquez from net worth to girlfriend
But while Aldeguer produced an aggressive overtake down home hero Quartararo’s inside at Turn 5, La Musee, he found it ‘scary’ seeing how much speed Marc Marquez carried through the left-hand corners at Le Mans. He even feels like ‘none’ of the Ducati riders understand it.
“How Marc does the left turns is scary,” Aldeguer stated, via Moto.it. “None of the Ducati riders know how he does it. He has an incredible style.
“The truth is that, on this track, in T1 and T2 I’m quite strong, even stronger than the other Ducatis. In T4, Marc does it better. Alex has a very similar style to me, so looking at the data with him is nice because I learn first.”
Fermin Aldeguer joins Francesco Bagnaia in marvelling at Marc Marquez’s strength in left-hand corners
Aldeguer showed his muscle during the Sprint Race at the French GP this Saturday to thwart Quartararo in the Yamaha pilot’s efforts to finish the 13-lap event on his home rostrum from pole. His aggressive move into T5 was also key, as Aldeguer scored his first MotoGP podium.
Quartararo punished the rookie for running slightly wide through Turn 4, La Chapelle, to get straight back past the Gresini rider after losing third place exiting the Dunlop Chicane. Yet he brushed the Spaniard, who returned the favour and some to force the overtake through T5.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Fermin Aldeguer with his rise to MotoGP and height
No rider could lay a glove on Marc Marquez, though, as the Ducati rider set a new record by scoring his sixth Sprint Race win in succession at the French GP. No rider has denied the six-time champion a Sprint win since he left Gresini to join Ducati for the 2025 MotoGP season.
Aldeguer is also not the first rider whom Marquez has blown away with his skill in left-hand corners. Johann Zarco finds Marquez’s old Honda data ‘very interesting’ as the LCR star just cannot fathom how the 32-year-old was able to carry so much speed through left-handers.
Even his Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia is trying to utilise the Spaniard becoming his new partner in Borgo Panigale to improve in left-handers. Bagnaia has a ‘pact’ with Marquez to understand his strength in left-hand turns, while returning the favour for right-hand turns.
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