2025 Portuguese MotoGP: Marco Bezzecchi cruises to victory for Aprilia

Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi celebrated his second MotoGP victory of the season after dominating the Portuguese Grand Prix from pole position.

After a difficult Malaysian Grand Prix, Aprilia was expected to return to form at Portimao, with Marco Bezzecchi snatching pole and claiming third in the sprint.

Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez, nevertheless, still looked like the rider to beat coming into Sunday’s 25-lap grand prix after his sprint victory and strong Friday practice pace.

But Bezzecchi converted pole to an early lead and offered Marquez no chance to attempt an overtake, before darting well over three seconds clear of the field to the chequered flag.

The Italian scores his second victory of the season and Aprilia’s third, with Bezzecchi now on course to finish third in the standings after Ducati’s Pecco Bagnaia crashed out.

Alex Marquez held onto second despite a late surge from KTM’s Pedro Acosta, who whittled down a gap of over two seconds over the final few tours to pressure the Gresini rider.

But it wasn’t enough, with Marquez fending off Acosta by just 0.605s.

Off the line, Bezzecchi and Acosta got equally good starts, but it was the Aprilia rider who held firm on the brakes into Turn 1.

Marquez fought his way from fifth to third in the first corner, and would pass Acosta on the brakes at Turn 1 at the start of the second lap.

At the start of lap three, Bezzecchi was already 0.7s clear of Marquez, setting out his intentions to dominate the grand prix early.

However, Marquez then closed in over the next few laps, with the gap hovering around the half-second mark until the start of the 11th tour.

Bezzecchi opened his lead up to 0.8s, which quickly turned into a second and only continued to swell as he broke away from Marquez.

At one stage over three seconds clear of the field, Bezzecchi got to the chequered flag 2.583s in front of Marquez.

Marquez was second despite his late pace drop, with Acosta resigned to third as his victory challenge never materialised.

Fermin Aldeguer came from 11th on the grid on the Gresini Ducati to fourth ahead of KTM’s Binder, with the pair surviving contact at Turn 5 on lap nine.

Fabio Quartararo was sixth on the leading Yamaha, with Trackhouse Aprilia rookie Ai Ogura seventh ahead of VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio and LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco.

Tech3 KTM stand-in Pol Espargaro completed the top 10, with Honda’s Luca Marini, Pramac’s Jack Miller, Yamaha’s Alex Rins, Pramac’s Miguel Oliveira and Ducati debutant Nicolo Bulega claiming the final points.

VR46’s Franco Morbidelli crashed on the opening lap after getting out of shape at Turn 5, while contact with Tech3’s Enea Bastianini forced him into the pits with bike damage.

Joan Mir suffered a second technical issue on his factory Honda, which knocked him out on lap three.

Pecco Bagnaia was running in fourth when he fell on lap 11. It’s the fourth successive Sunday non-score for the Ducati rider, who is now only three points ahead of fifth-placed Acosta in the standings.

Full 2025 MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix results