Marco Bezzecchi caution led to German MotoGP crash: "I braked a bit too softly"

Marco Bezzecchi revealed a cautious approach led to his German MotoGP downfall, after the factory Aprilia rider crashed out of a strong second place at the Sachsenring on Sunday.

After starring in Saturday’s wet Sprint - where he led until being overtaken by Marc Marquez on the final lap - Bezzecchi converted a front-row start into second place on the opening lap of Sunday’s dry main race.

He briefly dropped to fourth behind Ducati riders Fabio di Giannantonio and Alex Marquez, but quickly re-passed the Gresini rider and was keeping pace with the GP25 of di Giannantonio.

But when di Giannantonio crashed at Turn 1 with 12 laps to go, Bezzecchi, wary of suffering the same fate, began braking more cautiously into the same corner. 

It proved to be his undoing just 3 laps later.

“Unfortunately, I braked a bit too softly on turn 1 and didn’t oversteer the bike,” Bezzecchi explained.

“There is a slight downhill in the middle of that turn and if you don’t go into it a bit off the rear, it pushes the front a little. And that’s exactly what happened to me.

“As soon as the rear was in line with the front, I had a small understeer just as I went into the downhill in the middle of the corner. I lost the front slowly and unfortunately, I couldn't save it.”

Bezzecchi confirmed: “I started to brake a bit less because of [di Giannantonio’s] crash. If I could go back, I would brake anyway strong every lap!

“But this sometimes can happen, especially in these kind of races, where you can't push for all the race. 

"These tyres, bikes, everything is made to go on the limit, always. So when you save a bit, maybe it's easier to make mistakes."

“A pity, because I was fast”

The fall ended Bezzecchi’s chances of extending his podium run to four races in a row, after a double rostrum at Assen.

“It’s a pity, because I was fast. To be honest, I didn’t expect to be so competitive on this track, but everything was going really well,” said the Italian, also winner of this year’s British MotoGP.

“Now, with the crash fresh in my mind, things seem pretty dark, but we need to take all the positive aspects into account.

“We are growing and doing a great job and I’m happy with our growth, both as a rider and with the bike and the entire team which is working on it. We were ahead and that’s important. 

"This is certainly a blow, but we are strong.”

Rivola: “He was riding an exemplary race”

“It’s a real shame about Marco, who was riding an exemplary race,” said Rivola.

“Unfortunately, he was a victim of turn 1, as were many other riders. It was a Sunday to forget in terms of results, but we can still take away the performance here, so are highly optimistic as we head to Brno.”

Bezzecchi - who remains sixth in the world championship - will ride alongside returning team-mate and reigning world champion Jorge Martin for only the second time this season at Brno.