Marco Bezzecchi ‘won’t consider himself title contender’ until sprint errors cut out

Bezzecchi is aware he can no longer afford to squander points on Saturdays if he is to sustain a title challenge in 2026

Marco Bezzecchi says he will not consider himself a genuine MotoGP title contender until he eliminates the costly mistakes that have plagued his sprint races.

The Aprilia rider is in the midst of an incredible winning streak stretching back to last year’s Portimao event, with the United States GP marking his fifth grand prix win in succession.

However, he has also dropped too many points in Saturday races in the same period, and as a result holds only a narrow four-point lead in the standings.

In the Thailand season opener, he slid out of the lead of the sprint, while a similar error while running second cost him at least nine points in Austin. Even at Goiania, where he finished fourth, a mistake denied him a likely podium finish.

While Bezzecchi has earned praise for bouncing back from each of those lapses to win on Sundays, the Italian admits he must cut down on errors to establish himself as a genuine challenger in the title race.

“As long as I can't avoid mistakes like the one on Saturday, I won't feel like a contender,” he told Spanish broadcaster DAZN.

“I'm certainly fast and strong in these early races, but there's still a lot of work to be done and room for improvement. We have to overcome all the challenges we'll face, and we need to keep our feet on the ground because this is still a long way off.”

Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing

Photo by: Steve Wobser / Getty Images

Bezzecchi “quite sad” after sprint crash

Bezzecchi’s latest sprint mistake came at Austin, where he was defending second place from team-mate Jorge Martin. With three laps to go, the 27-year-old misjudged his braking into Turn 12 and dropped the bike, allowing Martin to go through and eventually snatch victory from Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia.

The nine-time grand prix winner admitted that it was hard for him to accept another unforced error, but credited Aprilia for helping him regroup and return to the front on Sunday.

“I am very surprised [by the result],” he said. “I was already surprised in Goiania, but here even more, because after Saturday, it was a tough pill to swallow.

“I have to say that my team, the whole Aprilia factory, was supporting me a lot because I was quite sad about my mistake.

The whole team was super, super close to me to try to give me the chance to continue pushing and continue working.

“We worked until late at night in the box to try to fix everything, to try to look at every detail that I could improve in my way to ride the bike.”