Has Marco Bezzecchi finally rediscovered his early-season MotoGP form?

November 10, 2026 · Yahoo Sports

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Marco Bezzecchi may have only himself to blame for his title challenge falling apart midway through the 2026 MotoGP season, but the Aprilia rider certainly knows how to dominate a grand prix.

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His remarkable run of five consecutive victories, spanning the final races of 2025 and the opening flyaways of 2026, should have given him a significant advantage in the title race.
But a disastrous summer began to turn the tide away from him, before a broken collarbone at the Sachsenring left him facing an uphill battle to get his campaign back on track.

Despite that setback, the points cushion Bezzecchi had built earlier in the season meant he remained firmly in the title fight after the summer break. A consistent run of results in August further helped his cause.

But a crash while fighting for the lead in Misano proved to be the final nail in the coffin, leaving his championship hopes effectively at the mercy of his rivals. Even when Bezzecchi returned to the top step of the podium in Indonesia, his victory owed more to Raul Fernandez’s physical limitations than his own pace.

The impression was that the Italian was slowly chipping towards the front while recovering from the injury, but was still some way off the level that had made him the early favourite for the 2026 crowd.

The Qatar Grand Prix, however, showed that he had lost none of his outright speed, and he can still leave his rivals in his wake when he is comfortable on the bike.

Perhaps not coincidentally, Bezzecchi failed to score in the restarted sprint after making a poor launch from pole and later colliding with Marc Marquez at Turn 1. The same sprint weakness that had plagued him early in the season resurfaced, even if neither rider was to blame for the incident that left Bezzecchi on the ground.

But, much like in the opening rounds of the year, the 27-year-old showed he could immediately bounce back from a disappointing Saturday and claim maximum points in Sunday's grand prix.

“On Saturday, when I was still sliding on the gravel, I was already thinking that Sunday is my day. I have to do it because it's impossible to not do it when you are so good,” said the Aprilia rider.

“But we've been working super well all weekend and Saturday’s was a nice race till that moment. So taking the positive was anyway nice because it's always a lesson when you fight with Marc.

“But on Sunday, I wanted to stay in front, I wanted to win. I needed it for me, for my family that is not going through an easy moment. So I tried my best and I did it. So very happy.”

Having developed a reputation for throwing away strong results with mistakes at crucial moments, Bezzecchi also showed greater maturity at Losail, controlling the full-distance race from pole position.

“I was confident on the bike and I felt good through all the race. I never had a moment where I panicked,” he said.

“I tried to stay calm, to always put one tenth more, one tenth more and manage everything well. It's a track where the tyres are suffering a lot. So I tried to manage in the best way possible and fortunately, I did it.”

Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing

While his performance over the weekend doesn’t suggest he will cap off the 2026 season with an unbeaten run of three victories, there is now enough evidence to suggest that Bezzecchi can dominate a Sunday race again purely on merit.

“There are some weekends where you start and you feel good with the bike and every session you improve and you feel good and the limit is like nowhere,” he said.

“Fortunately, I had this feeling a couple of times this year, but there were also weekends where I've been struggling at the beginning and working better and better and then at the end I was quick to fight for the podium.

“Here, I felt good since Friday. I was super motivated. Last year, Qatar was one of the toughest weekends for me and I wanted to do well [this year]. This was extra motivation that really pushed me to try to do good.”

To win the 2026 title, Bezzecchi needs to achieve a perfect haul of 74 points across the Portimao/Valencia double-header, while hoping Marquez scores in neither of the final two grands prix.

The Italian is under no illusions about how slim his chances are, and says he is treating the 2026 campaign as a learning experience.

“I need a miracle, but it looks like this season has no miracles for me,” he said.

“But it's good to have an opportunity to fight with them. Jorge [Martin] and Marc are both super, super good riders. Just to be able to fight with them is good.

“I want to improve. I want to try to be better for the future. So I will try to enjoy and take with me all the positives that I learned this season and that I hopefully will learn in these last two races as well.”

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