Alex Marquez: Bezzecchi "unbeatable" after Aprilia "made the click"

The writing was on the wall for Alex Marquez’s hopes of completing a first MotoGP weekend double when Marco Bezzecchi set a “flying” pace in warm-up at Portimao.

Marquez had dominated Saturday’s Sprint race, defeating Bezzecchi and Pedro Acosta, with his Friday pace looking even stronger on the medium rear tyre for the grand prix.

But Aprilia “made the click” on Sunday, with Bezzecchi surging half-a-second clear of the field in warm-up.

“Honestly speaking, Marco was faster than us today,” Marquez said. “From the warm-up, I saw him flying and said, ‘Wow, it will be tough.’ But okay, nothing to lose, we’ll try to go with him."

Marquez overtook Acosta for second behind Bezzecchi on lap 2 of the grand prix, but the Italian had superior pace from lap ten onwards:

“The pace was super fast. Eventually, I destroyed my front tyre on the right side.”

That also allowed Acosta to close in, with the KTM rider almost within striking distance by the chequered flag.

“I suffered to keep the second position from Pedro,” Marquez said. “Anyway, I tried my best. Yesterday, we were the fastest on track, but today Marco was much better than us.

“I was expecting Marco and Aprilia to be super fast here after last year with Vinales. They made the click on Sunday, they were unbeatable."

The Gresini rider added: “Marco especially had better corner entry, he was able to keep the line, and for that reason, I destroyed more the front tyre. 

"I had a lot of graining because I needed to force the bike too much in the last corner. Marco was flowing more than me.”

“The point where we were struggling a little bit in Australia, all the Ducati guys, was the fast corners with bumps. Here we had the same feeling, and we need to improve for the future.”

Team-mate Fermin Aldeguer recovered from 11th on the grid to finish fourth.