Marco Bezzecchi
Massimo Rivola should have kept his criticism of Jorge Martin’s riding at the Hungarian Grand Prix private, Ricard Jove says.
Martin received a double long-lap penalty for the Czech GP after he was deemed at fault for a first-corner incident involving teammate Marco Bezzecchi, Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez and Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer.
After he took his teammate and satellite rider Fernandez out of the race, Rivola publicly rebuked Martin, telling him it wasn’t the kind of mistake a world champion should make.
Both Aprilias are OUT in a five-rider crash at the start! 😲 Was Jorge Martin’s double long-lap penalty fair?
Martin, Bezzecchi, Di Giannantonio, Aldeguer and Fernandez are all out
Ricard Jove calls out ‘unsportsmanlike’ Massimo Rivola over Jorge Martin criticism
Writing on X, former rider manager, talent scout and team boss Jove acknowledged that Martin was ‘100%’ at fault after losing control of his bike.
Martin was furious after Fernandez collided with him at the Catalan GP last month, even pushing Aprilia team manager Paolo Bonora in the garage afterwards. No penalties were handed out for that incident.
Jove says Martin should now realise that he needs to be ‘more lenient’ with other riders.
However, he also feels that Rivola went too far with his comments. He disagrees with the Italian’s verdict and, more importantly, his decision to air it in public.
Jorge Martin apologises for causing the crash at the start of the Hungarian GP. How would you feel if you were Marco Bezzecchi?
“I’ve clearly seen that Martin had a front-end lockup that threw him off balance and caused him to lose control of the braking, with the consequences we’ve all seen,” Jove wrote. “Up to this point, everything’s clear, and fortunately, without serious injuries.
“As I’ve already said in another post, today’s lesson for Martin is that when it comes to other people’s mistakes, you have to be more lenient because of that whole… ‘today for you, tomorrow for me’ thing.
“But even though that action deserves a penalty, I have to say that to me, it didn’t seem like any kind of madness or reckless manoeuvre, but rather a simple error that, in this case, had a lot of consequences.
“And I say this because piling on the fallen tree is the easy thing for many fans, but the biggest disappointment for me today comes from what I see as the unfortunate statements by Massimo Rivola, when he declared that it’s unacceptable for a world champion to make that kind of mistake.
“I disagree, and strongly, because being a champion doesn’t exempt you from being able to make mistakes in limit manoeuvres. Although certainly the responsibility is 100% Martin’s, you can tell here that Rivola hasn’t raced motorcycles, and I see this as more of a public vendetta toward Jorge for what happened in Barcelona, something that struck me as pretty unsportsmanlike to do it that way.
“There’s way too much Netflix and show in all of this. Reprimands should be private and to your face.”
Martin is leaving Aprilia at the end of the season to join Yamaha – a move that’s become an open secret. Rivola is adamant he will treat his riders equally in this year’s title race, even though Marco Bezzecchi has committed to a new contract.
Martin apologised for pushing Bonora, who has himself said the fallout only lasted a matter of minutes.
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