Marco Bezzecchi took his second Grand Prix victory of the season at Portimao on the Aprilia, in a 2025 season that now sees him with his hands firmly on third place in the overall standings. Pecco Bagnaia's zero makes things rather more complicated now for the Ducati rider, who is 35 points behind Bezzecchi with just 37 up for grabs at Valencia. Basically it's an open goal for Bezzecchi.
A result that undoubtedly rewards the great season of the pairing made up of Bezzecchi and the RS-GP, a combination that step by step has improved to become an outright protagonist and serious contender for the title in 2026. When you consider how far away Bezzecchi was on the Noale bike in the first tests, this is only to be applauded. The victory at Portimao by the way is the second one in two GPs for Aprilia, considering the success of Raul Fernandez in Phillip Island. In short, the direction definitely seems to be the right one.
Second win of the season and third place one step away. How do you feel?
"I'm happy of course, winning here is great. Yesterday I was happy but not too happy, also because if you start from the pole position you want to fight for more. But yesterday Alex and Pedro were simply stronger than me. I spent a lot of time in the pit with my guys trying to figure out what I could improve, and where I could improve. I found something that helped me deal with these weaknesses I identified, and in the warm-up I knew I would be in amongst the fight. Then the race went really well."
The season is almost over, would you have expected a 2025 like this?
"I would say that with Aprilia we have improved step by step, I've always believed in this project and I've always had confidence in our bike. The engineers and everyone in Noale have always worked very well and while it's true that at the beginning of the season we suffered a little bit, then we made many steps forward. We are still not at the level of Marc and Alex, maybe we can fight with Pedro who has been very strong in this season finale. But we have to keep working and improving to reach the best level possible."
What did you find that made you take this step?
"I couldn't say specifically what I was missing. I certainly remained very close to the two of them yesterday, but my lines were not the best. Then in the box they found something that allowed me to be less aggressive on the bike and I always had a lot of confidence from the front because of that. I think it's a mix between these two factors."
Third place in the championship is now almost in the bag, is that one less problem?
"Clearly having this situation is a good thing, I would be talking nonsense if I didn't say I was a little bit more relaxed. The truth is that especially in this period it has become a goal, but finishing third in the world championship has never been something that has been an obsession for me in a negative way. At most it did in a positive way. Being able to achieve that meant having good races and winning them, and that's what I wanted. The same goes for Valencia, I'm going there with the mentality that I need to have a good weekend."
Did you miss the taste of victory?
"It's very nice because it had not happened in a while and it's always nice to win. It hasn't happened to me as many times as it has to others maybe, but it's always great. Then after yesterday it's even better, because we were happy but there was also a little bit of disappointment about starting from the pole without then winning. It's worth so much to me to see the guys on the race wall, to see them gassed up was exciting."
You could also see it at parc fermé.
"At parc fermé I couldn't contain myself, I was overjoyed. I thanked them so much. So many times little is enough, but finding that little is always a very difficult thing and they always put a huge amount of effort into it. I also put a lot of effort into it, yesterday we stayed in the pit until late. Then they become moments of work, but they were also really nice moments."
But yesterday you gave someone a boot as a gift, can you tell us about that?
"I gave it to a Mexican fan who has been following me for a while. I met her yesterday and she asked me to give her a boot if I won today. But I left it with her right away because I wasn't sure I would meet her again!"
Was it clear to you this morning that it was going to be such a Sunday?
"In the warm up I realized I had made a good step. Let's say I knew right away that I could at least fight for the win as well, I knew I wasn't going to sit back and watch. Then the race today started and I pushed hard right away. Alex was there at the beginning, then I saw that he dropped a few tenths and I knew it was time to give it my all and I did."
Photocredit@ Pier Luca Brunetti