Marco Bezzecchi
Marco Bezzecchi remains the favourite for the MotoGP title despite Marc Marquez making big gains at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Bezzecchi took just his second Sprint podium of the year on Saturday, limiting the points loss to race winner Marquez to six points. However, he haemorrhaged 25 a day later, through no fault of his own, after teammate Jorge Martin took him out at turn one.
Marquez has now closed the gap to 72 points, climbing to fifth in the standings. That he is considered the main threat to the Aprilia riders, not Fabio Di Giannantonio in third place or Pedro Acosta in fourth, speaks to his fearsome reputation.
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Still, it remains unlikely that Marquez wins the championship. No rider has ever come back from a deficit larger than 91 points (Francesco Bagnaia vs Fabio Quartararo in 2022), and the title holder was 102 points back after Mugello.
What’s more, one has to go back to 1992 for the last time a rider lifted the trophy despite missing a race through injury. Even then, Wayne Rainey was only able to overtake Mick Doohan because of the Australian’s lengthy layoff.
Marquez is a history-maker, but the title will probably go to either Bezzecchi or Martin. The unfortunate reality, though, is that both riders would have an asterisk next to their name if they did prevail.
Bezzecchi has established himself as one of the MotoGP elite, not just this season but also in the second half of last year. While he still makes too many mistakes, he would be a worthy championship winner on the evidence of the season so far.
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But should Marquez fail to make a comeback, this will always be seen as a less valuable title.
The narrative – rightly or wrongly – will be that the champion didn’t beat a fully fit and firing Marquez, making them inherently lucky. This is the reality of modern sports discourse.
Bezzecchi and Martin, who has already won a title, may not care. But Aprilia’s bosses have said themselves that, from here on out, they want to beat Marquez at his very best to heighten the sense of achievement.
Jorge Lorenzo thinks Marquez could have kept winning titles at Honda were it not for his prolonged arm troubles in the early 2020s. Perhaps, from that point of view, one could argue that Joan Mir, Fabio Quartararo and Bagnaia were fortunate, but the Japanese manufacturer’s decline was stark.
When he finally put those surgeries behind him in 2024, Marquez was riding a year-old Ducati, which may have prevented him from competing with Martin and Bagnaia.
There are a lot of counterfactuals at play here, and ultimately, all that matters is the name that’s etched on the trophy. But as long as he races, every MotoGP season will be viewed through a Marquez-tinted lens, given his status as an all-time great.
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