Marco Bezzecchi: ‘Only the journalists thought I could win’ Australian MotoGP

Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi admits he “didn’t even expect” to finish on the podium at the MotoGP Australian Grand Prix because of the double long lap penalty he had to serve.

The factory Aprilia star was slapped with two long laps for causing a collision with reigning world champion Marc Marquez at the Indonesian Grand Prix.

This proved a major blow to his hopes of fighting for victory, with Bezzecchi the pre-race favourite after dominating the sprint on the Saturday from second on the grid at Phillip Island.

Leading in the early stages, Bezzecchi served his penalties on laps five and seven of 27, rejoining the race in sixth after the latter.

He fought back through to third, though he admits he wasn’t able to fight for more as his early push before his first penalty used up a lot of his rear tyre.

“It has been nice. Super tough, because I never thought, honestly, about the victory,” he said.

“Only the journalists thought about it. But I didn’t even expect a podium.

“So, to be honest, I tried my best to be fast in the moment that I did the first long lap to not finish it inside the pack.

“My strategy worked well. To be completely honest, it was the strategy of my team - not me.

“After the second long lap, I was only sixth, so better than I expected.

“But, having pushed so much in the beginning, I couldn’t stress the tyres more.

“If not, I was going to be dead in the last laps. So, super happy when I fought with Pedro [Acosta].

“I thought that fourth was the maximum. It’s super hard to overtake him. Then I saw with Alex [Marquez] I was catching him. At least I tried.”

Bezzecchi’s double podium at Phillip Island follows on from sprint wins in Indonesia and Misano, while Raul Fernandez took the Trackhouse-run RS-GP to Aprilia’s second grand prix victory of 2025 in Australia.

But he is cautious of comparing Aprilia’s current form to that of world champion marque Ducati.

“I don’t know,” he began.

“For me, it’s impossible to make a comparison. I don’t ride the Ducati; I’m an Aprilia rider.

“But what I can say is, I feel super good with my bike. The engineers are doing a wonderful job.

“To be honest, we’ve been quite consistent.

“Of course, there are tracks where the characteristics of the bike are super good.

“There are other tracks where the bike is super good. But everyone is a little bit closer, and maybe we have to try to work more.

“So, I don’t know how to answer in a specific way, but I think we are making steps forward.”

Bezzecchi has now moved into third in the standings ahead of Ducati’s Pecco Bagnaia, who crashed out of 12th in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.