Marco Bezzecchi explains disastrous Jerez MotoGP Sprint start

Marco Bezzecchi has explained why his Jerez MotoGP Sprint start was so poor.

Bezzecchi qualified fourth, but dropped to 17th on the start. TV replays showed Bezzecchi running over a tear-off as he pulled away, as happened to Marc Marquez at Phillip Island in 2024.

Bezzecchi thinks the tear-off came from Alex Marquez, who denied this when it was put to him by MotoGP.com after the Sprint, saying: “My one, for sure no because I take out out of the last corner, so it’s not mine, so I don’t know who is.”

But Bezzecchi explained that the tear-off got trapped in his fairing, and then fell out and under his bike when he stopped on the grid.

“For sure it’s not the best way to start,” Marco Bezzecchi said, speaking to MotoGP.com after the Jerez Sprint.

“I mean, of course, at the end, it’s something that you can’t control. 

“Alex [Marquez] didn’t do anything wrong, he just removed the tear-off. 

“I was there, I didn’t see the tear-off, it was stuck in my front fairing, and then when I stopped it fell off and went under my bike. 

“So, this is something that is very difficult to predict. It’s like this.”

Bezzecchi added that the way the conditions changed during the MotoGP Sprint makes it hard to say what kind of result he missed out on.

“I have no idea,” he said.

“In the dry I think maybe I could stay in the top-five, in the top-six, then with this condition it was difficult to predict because at the end it’s a survival when the rain comes with the slick.

“Then anyway it’s a survival moment when you change the bike because to come in from the pit is never easy. 

“At the end it went like this, I cannot say anything more.”

Looking to Sunday, the Italian sees numerous rivals for him, including his Aprilia Racing teammate Jorge Martin who will start 10th.

“Clearly Alex [Marquez], Marc [Marquez], Diggia [Fabio Di Giannantonio] – they were a bit faster,” he said.

“Jorge is also fast, the Honda’s are not too bad and Johann [Zarco] is starting there. Anyway, my plan is to do a good race so I will do it.”

The Aprilia Racing rider also explained his Sprint crash, which he thinks was about front tyre temperature.

“I’m okay, fortunately everything okay,” he said.

“Just I went in with the second bike and my front tyre was maybe a little bit too cold. I leaned for corner two and I lost the front.”