Marc Marquez says “risky” Aragon MotoGP sprint overtake was “only chance” to win

Marc Marquez says his “risky” overtake on Marco Bezzecchi at the start of the MotoGP Aragon Grand Prix sprint was “the only chance” for him to beat the Aprilia rider.

Marco Bezzecchi snatched pole from the Ducati rider with a new lap record on Saturday morning in qualifying.

He then gambled on running the soft rear tyre in the 11-lap sprint, while Marc Marquez opted for the safer medium option.

Marquez said his only option to win the sprint and beat Bezzecchi was to overtake him at Turn 1 at the start.

“When I saw that Marco was starting with the soft, it was the only chance, to attack at the first corner,” Marquez, who scored his 20th career sprint win, said.

“It is what I did, it was in my plan, even if I started not so good.

“But it was my plan to attack there in the first corner. I know that it’s a corner where I feel strong, and then when you lead the race, you can control better [the pace].”

He added: “When you have only one rider in front, it’s easy to attack in that mode.

“When the rider in front brakes, you brake a bit later.

“And if you do some mistake, you have the run-off area.

“So, yeah, it’s risky of course. But it’s part of racing.

“Of course, when you are there in the middle of the group, you cannot do this kind of movement. But when you start in front, yes.”

Marquez explains decision to race medium rear in Aragon sprint

All Ducati riders opted to run the medium rear, with Marquez saying it was not an option for them to use the soft after their graining issues at Silverstone.

“There was no chance for Ducati riders,” he said about the soft tyre.

“All the Ducati riders were with the medium because the soft is the same soft as in Silverstone.

“And this morning we had the same issue as Silverstone.

“So, there was no point to take that risk because if you start to have that graining, you lose half a second, one second per lap.”

Marquez maintained his 100% sprint win record at Aragon as a Ducati rider, but qualifying marked the second session in a row where he was beaten by Aprilia’s Bezzecchi.

However, he says he isn’t disappointed at missing out on pole.

“I mean, it was a good lap. I cannot say, ‘Oh, but I did a mistake’. No, it was a good lap.

“I had two chances. The first chance was already a good lap, but I saw that Marco was faster.

“And on that time attack, they were very fast. I’m not disappointed.

“Of course, I would like to be on pole. But when somebody is faster than you, when you feel that you did a good job, you cannot be disappointed.”