Marco Bezzecchi makes ‘spectacular’ admission about whether Aprilia have a better bike than Ducati

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Marco Bezzecchi emerged as the favourite for victory at the Australian Grand Prix as Aprilia looked to be the class of the field.

Despite their dominance in 2025, there was no Ducati rider on the front row of the grid at Phillip Island, with Bezzecchi lining up second behind Fabio Quartararo. The Aprilia rider claimed victory in the Sprint as the Yamahas struggled with straight-line speed.

Neil Hodgson felt Bezzecchi made ‘strange’ mistakes under braking for a rider of his experience. Nevertheless, his bike clearly had the pace to win the Grand Prix on Sunday over the Ducatis, especially in the absence of Marc Marquez.

But it was the 2025 champion’s absence from the Australian Grand Prix that made the Italian’s chances of victory much harder. Bezzecchi had to serve a double long-lap penalty for his collision with Marquez at Mandalika, which has ruled him out for the next two races.

The 26-year-old took the lead off the start and built a gap before serving his penalties. Bezzecchi dropped to sixth and managed to climb his way up to third for a podium.

Marco Bezzecchi lauds Aprilia’s ‘spectacular’ work with the bike, but it is ‘impossible’ to say they top Ducati

Trackhouse Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez claimed his first MotoGP win at Phillip Island, with Fabio Di Giannantonio finishing second for Ducati and VR46 ahead of Bezzecchi.

Aprilia have made serious gains on the Borgo Panigale outfit, but the Italian says it is ‘impossible’ to say whether the Noale-based manufacturer have overtaken Ducati in development. Nevertheless, he lauded his engineers’ ‘spectacular’ job up to this point.

Bezzecchi told GPOne: “I don’t know. It’s impossible for me to make a comparison, because I ride the Aprilia, not the Ducati.

“All I can say is that right now I feel very good when I ride my bike. The engineers have done a spectacular job, and to be honest, we’ve been consistent throughout.

“There are some tracks where our bike feels really good, but generally, it feels good everywhere. Maybe we just need to keep working like this. I don’t know what to say overall, but I think we’re making progress.”

READ MORE: Everything to know about Marco Bezzecchi from net worth to race number

Marco Bezzecchi leapfrogs Francesco Bagnaia for P3 in the standings

Bezzecchi was ‘scared’ to join Aprilia from VR46 due to the responsibilities of being a factory rider. These were heightened after Jorge Martin’s injury-riddled season left him as the Noale outfit’s only reference for data and development.

However, the Italian has flourished with this new role, guiding Aprilia to victory at Silverstone and three Sprint victories. His P3 at Phillip Island has seen him leapfrog Francesco Bagnaia for third in the standings.

With six podiums in his last 10 races, the Italian is in a strong position to keep hold of P3 for Aprilia. Bagnaia is in woeful form with Ducati, having failed to score points in the last two events.

Ducati have struggled to get Bagnaia comfortable on the GP25 all season and it is hard to see that improving in the final three races. With Aprilia on the up, Bezzecchi is in the best place to finish third.