Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez has praised Francesco Bagnaia for the defensive riding style his Ducati teammate embraced to fend off Ai Ogura and win the Sprint at the Czech Grand Prix.
Seven-time MotoGP champion Marquez got a close look at his two-time title-winning Ducati teammate’s approach during the Sprint at Brno, as he came home in third place on Saturday. Bagnaia held Ogura off by just 0.241 seconds, while Marquez finished a further 0.553s away.
Saturday’s result at the Czech GP marks the first time that Bagnaia has won a Sprint Race for almost eight months. It is also the first win in any race format that the 29-year-old has taken since he won the Sprint at last season’s Malaysian Grand Prix from pole position in October.
Francesco Bagnaia wins the Brno Sprint 🏆 But who was your rider of the race, and why?
Marc Marquez praises Francesco Bagnaia’s defensive riding to win the Brno Sprint Race
Ogura scored pole position for the Czech GP earlier on Saturday, but the Trackhouse ace did not get his satellite Aprilia RS-GP off the line as well as Bagnaia did with his Ducati GP26. It made all the difference, as Bagnaia won the Sprint at the Czech GP owing to his better start.
READ MORE: Francesco Bagnaia wins the Czech Grand Prix Sprint ahead of Ai Ogura
Having the soft rear Michelin tyre meant Bagnaia could pull away from Ogura, who chose to use the medium rear tyre, in the early phase. And while Ogura ended the race hounding the Turin native, the Japanese racer could not find a way through to achieve his first win at Brno.
Bagnaia’s defensive riding style to block any route that Ogura may have tried in the Sprint at the Czech GP took Marquez’s eye. The Spaniard was impressed by how Bagnaia dealt with Ogura’s threat, but he notes that overtaking in the heat at Brno was “practically impossible”.
Marquez said on DAZN, via quotes by Motosan: “I pushed hard in the race. I gave more than I had to try and get close to the leader, who was kind of the benchmark.
“I had [chances to overtake], that’s why I made it this far. But when you get there, either you have got a lot more to give or you can’t overtake. It’s impossible
“Pecco rode very well today, and defended his position well. In this heat, it was practically impossible to overtake.”
Pecco Bagnaia puts his form down to Ducati not changing his set-up since the Jerez test
What does Marco Bezzecchi have to change after crashing out of the Czech Grand Prix Sprint?
The Aprilia rider's incident at Brno was his fourth crash from nine Sprints in 2026
Bagnaia’s Sprint victory at the Czech GP this Saturday is the crowning moment of his recent purple patch. The Ducati rider has bagged podium finishes with P3 in each of the past three Grands Prix in Catalunya, Italy and Hungary, but only his P3 at Mugello was on merit alone.
READ MORE: How to watch the 2026 Czech Grand Prix, including Brno weather forecast
Gresini star Alex Marquez’s huge crash with Pedro Acosta in Barcelona helped pave a path for Bagnaia to eventually reach the rostrum. Similarly, Jorge Martin causing the huge Turn 1 crash at Balaton Park took out multiple rostrum contenders, and Bagnaia had a lonely race.
Balaton Park is a bit of an outlier track, too. But Bagnaia believes his recent form is thanks to the set-up he and Ducati settled on during the post-Spanish Grand Prix test at Jerez in April, as he has not changed it since. Bagnaia tried Ducati’s new aero and electronics at Jerez and noted at the time that he felt the Bologna Bullet’s latest aero package helped in the corners.
Bagnaia explained, via Motorsport.com, after the Sprint at Brno: “By working calmly and not tweaking the set-up too much, we made a big step forward in the Jerez test. We continued in this direction and, at Mugello, we took another step.
“Since then, we haven’t touched anything else. Hungary was a bit of a mixed bag, because those are circuits where I struggle a lot, but everything is moving in the right direction.”
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