Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez cruised to a seventh consecutive MotoGP double at Balaton Park following a close battle with Marco Bezzecchi.
The Aprilia rider had a terrific start and positioned his bike cleverly in turn one to make sure that he claimed the lead of the race.
Conversely, Marquez had a difficult start and had to contend with a slight wheelie on his way towards turn one.
Bezzecchi pounced on the opportunity as he has been doing over the last few events, and raced to yet another impressive podium.
14 races into the campaign, Bezzecchi has emulated one of Marquez’s greatest attributes, and it may have brought him more success on track.
Just a few days ago, Marquez exposed a ‘worrying’ Ducati weakness, but it didn’t look like a problem on Sunday. It looks like he could break many records.
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Marc Marquez explains how Marco Bezzecchi caught him out after Balaton Park ‘crash’
After taking the lead into turn one, there was very little space separating Bezzecchi from Marquez in turn two.
They were too close as it turned out, and the two made slight contact, with Marquez being stood up mid-corner and losing two positions.
He managed to regain a place and get back up to third not long after, but he was caught out by his rival remaining in first gear.
Speaking to TNT Sports after the race, he immediately discussed how Bezzecchi’s approach was a surprise to him.
“Yeah, on that first corner, when I saw that Marco was inside, I just released the brakes and went wide, because I didn’t want to have any incident at this corner,” he said.
“But, then in the second one, I expected that he would do more cornering speed, and in fact, he kept the first gear, and I touched him behind. Luckily, for both of us, I was able to able to save the crash, and he was able to continue on his way.
“But, from that point, the race changed a bit. I was passed on that first laps, but then when I saw that the tyres started to drop, I was with the medium, I started to attack, and yeah, I had a super good, super nice rhythm. I was flowing on the track, so super happy.”
READ MORE: Aprilia’s Jorge Martin still can’t emulate one thing Marco Bezzecchi has ‘achieved’ after his return
Why Marco Bezzecchi has a lot to fight for with Aprilia in 2025
On current form, it feels virtually guaranteed that Bezzecchi will end up finishing inside the top three in the riders’ standings.
At one stage, he was miles behind Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia, but his fellow countryman has fallen off completely just as he has picked the pace up.
Jorge Martin has ‘similar problems’ to Bezzecchi after returning from injury at Aprilia, due to how conservatively they must ride their bikes.
The current RS-GP is still a significant improvement over what was fielded at the start of the year, as Aprilia’s four riders all struggled to fight in the top 10.
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