On Saturday, Marco Bezzecchi admitted he had not expected to be this competitive. On Sunday, he led the Aragon GP until lap six.
Then Marc Marquez arrived.
The Spaniard completes a perfect MotorLand weekend: Sprint victory, Grand Prix victory and the full 37 points available. Pedro Acosta finishes second, while Bezzecchi takes third place once again. Marc’s eighth premier-class victory at Aragon also takes him back into second place in the World Championship. For Bez, it is a second podium in two days and the confirmation of a weekend that has gone far beyond his own expectations.
Behind him, however, the Italian story changes completely.
Fabio Di Giannantonio responds to Saturday’s crash with seventh place. Enea Bastianini comes through from 16th to finish eighth. Luca Marini collects two points in 14th. Franco Morbidelli crashes. And Francesco Bagnaia crashes again.
After Silverstone, another weekend ends without a single point.
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Bezzecchi answers at Turn 1 and takes the lead back
The opening corner had decided Saturday’s Sprint.
Marc Marquez had attacked the inside, Alex had taken advantage and Bezzecchi had gone from pole to third within the opening sequence of corners. On Sunday, Marc tries it again. This time Marco has an answer. The #93 attacks at Turn 1, but Bezzecchi cuts back and retakes the lead. Marc then makes a mistake with his rear ride-height device, remaining lowered through the following fast section and allowing both Marco and Jorge Martin through.
Bezzecchi stays in front. And this time, he gets the chance to lead the Grand Prix properly.
Behind him Marc recovers second place from Martin, while Pedro Acosta quickly joins the fight at the front. For five complete laps, the #72 controls the race.
Then lap six arrives.
Marc attacks, Marco answers: the fight of the race
Marc makes his move at the chicane before the back straight. He gets alongside Bezzecchi and takes the advantage, but Marco refuses to let him disappear. He gets back onto the Ducati’s side on the straight and the two run almost bar-to-bar at more than 300 km/h, separated by inches. Marc holds the position under braking. And Acosta takes advantage immediately, moving past Bezzecchi into second. Within a handful of seconds, Marco goes from first to third.
There is no tyre-choice difference to help explain it this time either: the entire grid started on the medium front and medium rear. Marc simply has something more as the race develops. Acosta stays with him for much of the distance before the reigning World Champion begins to build a gap in the closing stages.
After 23 laps, Marc stops the clock at 41’10.969. Acosta finishes 1.754 seconds behind. Bezzecchi is third at 3.629.
Third. Again.
Two third places that tell two different stories in the Aragon GP
If we looked only at the results sheet, Bezzecchi’s weekend would be easy to summarise.
P3 in the Sprint.
P3 in the Grand Prix.
But that would miss most of the story.
Marco arrived at Aragon still dealing with physical problems. His left knee was continuing to swell and cause pain, while his recovering shoulder was being put under extra strain by a circuit dominated by left-hand corners. Then Friday came. Fastest in Practice with a new lap record. On Saturday morning, he went even faster: 1’44.962, the first ever sub-1’45 lap at MotorLand, and pole position. Then came an unexpected Sprint podium.
Sunday brought something else. Marco answered Marc at Turn 1. He led the race. And when the #93 finally arrived, he tried to fight back. He could not hold him. Acosta had more too. But Bezzecchi finished the weekend with another podium and another result that says more than the simple number three beside his name.
The Championship picture changes, though. Jorge Martin remains the leader with 256 points. Marc Marquez moves into second on 237, while Bezzecchi drops to third with 232. Five points separate Marco from Marc. Twenty-four separate him from Martin.
He loses a position. But he is very much still in the fight.
Bagnaia crashes again: another weekend ends with zero
For Francesco Bagnaia, Aragon ends in the worst possible way.
After finishing 11th and outside the points in Saturday’s Sprint, Pecco starts the Grand Prix from eighth and spends the opening laps inside the points. He is running seventh. Then his race ends. Bagnaia crashes after completing five laps and records another DNF. And this time, it is difficult to look only at the single incident.
Silverstone had already left Pecco with nothing: 17th in the Sprint, then a crash in the Grand Prix. Aragon does the same.
Eleventh on Saturday. A crash on Sunday.
Zero points from two consecutive weekends.
Yesterday there was no crash and he still could not reach the top nine. Today, at least, he had found a position from which something could be built. Then came another zero. One bad day can happen. Two entire weekends without scoring start to demand answers.
Bagnaia remains eighth in the Championship on 143 points, now 113 behind the leader.
Silverstone needed to remain an isolated bad weekend. Aragon has unfortunately given it a sequel.
Diggia responds, Bastianini comes through the field in the Aragon GP
Behind the leading group, at least two Italian riders find something to take home.
Fabio Di Giannantonio needed first of all to finish a race after crashing out of the Sprint. He does that with seventh place, 23.136 seconds behind the winner. It is not his strongest weekend of the season, but it brings nine points and an immediate response to Saturday’s zero. It also moves Diggia into fourth place in the World Championship with 208 points.
Enea Bastianini finishes directly behind him. Starting 16th, the Tech3 rider gains eight positions to take eighth place, finishing just 2.605 seconds behind Di Giannantonio. During a week in which his future with Trackhouse became official, Enea closes the present with a strong recovery through the field. It does not redefine his season. But it is a result worth taking.
Marini scores two points, Morbidelli crashes
Further back, Luca Marini at least erases Saturday’s zero. After crashing on the opening lap of the Sprint, the Honda rider completes all 23 laps on Sunday and finishes 14th, scoring two points.
Franco Morbidelli does not reach the finish. The VR46 rider crashes early in the Grand Prix, bringing his weekend to an end without points. Lorenzo Savadori finishes 17th on the Trackhouse Aprilia.
So the Italian picture on Sunday remains split in two. Bezzecchi back on the podium. Diggia and Enea inside the top eight. And two Italian Ducatis stopped before the chequered flag.
The Aragon GP leaves Marco third — and much closer than he expected to be
Marc Marquez leaves MotorLand with almost everything.
Not pole position. Marco took that from him. But the Sprint, the Grand Prix and 37 points all belong to Marc. His Aragon weekend brings him to within 19 points of the Championship lead.
Bezzecchi, meanwhile, loses second place in the standings. And yet it is difficult to look at his weekend as a step backwards. He arrived still unsure of what his body would allow him to do on a circuit that asks so much of the left side. On Friday, he was fastest. On Saturday, he took pole with the lap record. Then he stood on the podium.
On Sunday, he led the race, answered Marc when Marc arrived and eventually stood on the podium once more. Two third places can look identical on paper.
Saturday’s told the story of the surprise of being there.
Sunday’s tells something more.
Marco was not simply there.
He tried to win it. And after a weekend that began without knowing exactly how far he could go, perhaps that is the most important thing Aragon leaves him with.
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Read: Marc Marquez controls the Aragon Sprint, Bezzecchi takes an unexpected podium as Bagnaia misses the points
Watch: MotoGP, GP di Aragon: gli highlights della gara al MotorLand
