Marco Bezzecchi “didn’t panic” after Bagnaia “rocket”, “felt the pressure” for Mugello MotoGP win
Title leader Marco Bezzecchi takes his first MotoGP victory since Texas with an emotional home win at Mugello.
Marco Bezzecchi soaked up the pressure to claim both his and Aprilia’s first home Italian MotoGP victory at Mugello on Sunday.
The pole-qualifier bounced back from a disappointing fourth place in Saturday’s Sprint by braking much later into Turn 1 at the start of the grand prix.
Bezzecchi then got the better of team-mate and title rival Jorge Martin to establish an early lead.
However, Pecco Bagnaia’s Ducati blasted past on the main straight on lap three of 23.
“At the beginning with Jorge we had a nice battle. I wanted to stay in front because I knew my front tyre was going to last longer without anyone ahead,” Bezzecchi explained.
“But then Pecco had a rocket and he passed me. I saw that he was super quick. I didn't panic. I tried to stay close, but not too close to overheat everything.
“I saw that Jorge was going backwards from us, and this gave me the confidence to wait.
“Then, as soon as I saw Jorge was coming back to me, I said, ‘now is the moment to lead’.”
That move came with ten laps remaining, when Bezzecchi outbraked Bagnaia into Turn 1.
“Once I was able to pass Pecco, I put my rhythm on and the feeling with my bike was amazing,” he said.
“Being completely honest it was tough in the last two laps because I started to see from the side of my eye all the people in the grandstands, in the grass, waving and cheering.
“To keep the concentration was hard, but once I crossed the finish line the feeling was amazing.”
The Italian, who regularly bats away questions about winning this year’s world championship, admitted he felt the weight of expectation from the home crowd.
“From Thursday the pressure was high, the fans were amazing, but also the responsibility was a lot because everyone was telling me, ‘you have to win!’
“For the first time I really felt the pressure, but it was also a super charge because I saw an amazing number of people supporting me.
“So I worked hard to try to achieve this and it’s like a dream come true.”
Among those waiting to congratulate the MotoGP World Championship leader after the race was Formula 1 title leader Kimi Antonelli.
“Kimi is a big friend of mine, we’ve been closer in the last three years, and to have him here is great,” said Bezzecchi.
Bezzecchi takes a 17-point lead over Martin into next weekend’s Hungarian round.
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