Why Marco Bezzecchi had no answer to Jorge Martin’s…

Marco Bezzecchi pointed to a lack of confidence in the front-end of the Aprilia after suffering a straight defeat to Jorge Martin in the French Grand Prix.

Having taken the lead at the start of the race by passing polesitter Francesco Bagnaia, Bezzecchi came under mounting pressure with 10 laps to go, as team-mate Martin charged from seventh on the grid to grab second.

What had initially looked like a comfortable advantage of almost two seconds rapidly disappeared as Martin set a series of fast laps before passing Bezzecchi with ease at Turn 3 with two laps remaining.

While the result was significant for Aprilia as it celebrated its first-ever podium lockout in MotoGP, it also marked the first time Bezzecchi had been defeated by his team-mate in a Sunday race this year.

Having started the season with three consecutive grand prix victories, Bezzecchi now faces a serious title challenge from Martin, who has closed within one point of him in the standings.

Lap time comparison

Lap	Jorge Martin	Marco Bezzecchi	Advantage
19	1:31.310	1:31.852	Martin +0.542s
20	1:31.324	1:31.489	Martin +0.165s
21	1:31.845	1:31.945	Martin +0.100s
22	1:31.472	1:31.722	Martin +0.250s
23	1:31.248	1:31.491	Martin +0.243s
24	1:31.651	1:31.788	Martin +0.137s
25	1:31.868	1:32.710	Martin +0.842s
26	1:32.047	1:32.129	Martin +0.082s
27	1:32.341	1:32.030	Bezzecchi +0.311s

However, the Italian wasn’t frustrated to finish second, admitting that he lacked the pace all weekend to fight for a victory.

“I never really felt comfortable as I wanted [to be] on the bike,” he said. “I didn't even expect to lead for so many laps of the race because my feeling was not the best.

“But I tried to manage. I tried to put everything I had on the track. Until the last six-seven laps, even if the problems were coming more and more, I did not feel too bad.

“When I saw Jorge passing Pedro [Acosta], I knew that the gap was coming down, so I tried not to be too stressed, not to make too many mistakes at the end. I didn't want to risk throwing everything away.

“I'm happy because I did my best this weekend to grab a sprint podium and also a podium today. And honestly, it's the maximum that I could do.”

Martin had already laid out his title credentials with an impressive sprint victory at Austin in March. His brilliant launch from eighth in Saturday’s sprint further boosted his prospects, but it was only on Sunday that he was able to claim his first grand prix victory as a factory Aprilia rider after a treacherous first season with the Noale factory in 2025.

Bezzecchi explained where the 2024 champion had the edge over him over the course of the Le Mans weekend.

“All weekend, he has been super strong. He has a lot of traction. He's very good at riding,” he said.

“I tried my best to make a similar way to make some corners of the track. But I couldn't really force it, I couldn't really stop as I wanted. The front feeling, especially, wasn't the best as I had been in the previous races.

“Even when I was improving, I never really got the confidence on the bike that I wanted.

“Then to try anyway to compensate, I was using the tyres a lot, and I was suffering a bit at the end.”