Marco Bezzecchi is having the time of his life. But don't ask him about it

Marco Bezzecchi is glancing at me with that hazy look of his. A straight face and blank expression that could easily form into a snarl, or a slow grin if he fancies executing some of his sarcasm. Bezzecchi doesn’t relish a leading question.

We’re conducting an interview at the Malaysian Grand Prix. It’s 2023, and the then-23-year-old is on the way to third position in the world championship in just his second year in the class and, importantly, armed with a Ducati.

There was a reluctance about Bezzecchi that year.

He had shone fleetingly in Moto3 and Moto2, more through persistence rather than spectacular results, but never quite made that kick to fight for either crown, only taking three grand prix wins in each division.

Born within earshot of the Misano circuit, you couldn’t get more of a ‘local product’ for Valentino Rossi‘s VR46 academy and he was given time and space in that curated, homely nest of support, growing in both Moto2 and MotoGP while wearing those black and yellow colours after adventures with at least three other teams. 2023 was Bezzecchi’s breakthrough campaign in MotoGP after he’d raised eyebrows with a second-place finish at the 2022 Dutch Grand Prix in what was otherwise a typical rookie term of varying performances. In 2023, he became part of the star cast.

Towards the end of that season, in Malaysia, we spoke about the fame effect. “When you are in Moto2 and Moto3 then you have fans and they are very passionate, but normally there are not so many!” he smiled in his quiet and heavily accented English. “In Misano [2023] I saw many people with my t-shirt, my flag and in my grandstand! And it was the biggest one apart from Pecco [Bagnaia]. It was incredible and I felt the pressure. I felt that everyone was ‘for me’ so I had to do good.”

2023 and success levered Bezzecchi out of the VR46 shell. He had to wake up to the reality of being a MotoGP protagonist and the demands that entailed. “It is impossible to go into the paddock now with all the people and that’s why sometimes I almost escape with the scooter and go through the back of the hospitalities,” he sheepishly admitted at Sepang.

Earlier that season, MotoGP legend Randy Mamola had told me how he believed Bezzecchi was the next big superstar of the series. The American said that Bezzecchi had the ‘rock and roll’ look, the attitude and, of course, the flowering ability. He was poised for the big time. He finished second at his home grand prix in San Marino amid a sea of hype (evidently managing the pressure that weekend) and would fidget during the post-race press conference, clearly already lightheaded with celebration Prosecco and holding a beer.

“My target is to win races, not to grow”

Youthful allure aside, Bezzecchi was only part of the way there. He had to mature. Showmanship, social media presence, profiling, and ‘brand building’ all seemed to be alien concepts. In this way, he seemed a bit ‘old school’ to me, which was odd for a young guy and a protege of one of MotoGP’s marketing masters. “My target is to win races, not to grow,” he explained. “Sponsors: you get [them] when you win and I want to do it most of the time. But, it is also bullshit if I say: ‘I don’t want people to like me’. So for sure I would like to continue to grow but I want to do it thanks to my results.”

That process did not happen instantaneously. In fact, 2024 was a backwards stride. Difficulty getting his head around the Ducati GP23 and the ’24 Michelins lowered his status to a top 10 runner instead of a possible regular winner. He climbed the podium just once on the slow descent to 12th in the championship and his irreverence led more to irrelevance than hype. His ability to deal with adversity and optimise the set-up of a motorcycle was called into question. He was occasionally brilliant, but mostly baffling.

2024 was testing but I had been told by the VR46 team’s PR that the crew appreciated Bezzecchi’s manners, his calmness and his way of treating the people around him; traits that not many race fans had been able to see. Another obscured facet of what can be described as an introverted — almost distrustful — personality is his determination. It’s a characteristic that many would assume is part of an athlete’s essential make-up to rise to the elite levels of sport but for Bezzecchi to opt out and away from VR46 and join the not-too-distant Aprilia factory squad was a statement of self-belief, especially as 2024 was Ducati’s most comprehensive season yet.

Most of the grid would have wheelied through a Brazilian sinkhole for a Desmosedici but Bezzecchi sought a reset in the climes of Noale. He had to integrate into a new group, new systems and bury his dislike of fellow incoming team-mate Jorge Martin while accepting he was a clear No2. “I have to be honest, in my career in MotoGP, I was quite lucky until now because I never felt this…” he said of the status at the team launch.

Nevertheless, Bezzecchi was entering friendly turf with Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola, particularly pleased to have hooked his countryman.

“At the back in the end of 2020, Massimo asked me to join MotoGP but at the time I didn’t feel ready and he gave me a piece of the bike; the handlebar grip!” he said during the 2025 team presentation in Milan. “But I wasn’t ready, so I decided to stay in Moto2 and last year, when I had the possibility, when I saw that Aleix [Espargaró] was going to retire, I immediately said to my manager, ‘OK: let’s try to move to Aprilia’. We wanted each other, so it was nice because then Massimo gave me the other handlebar grip! I think it’s a special family.”

The train was back on the rails. Bezzecchi found a new comfort zone and continued to develop both in the pitbox, on the asphalt and in the public eye. As MotoGP fans and followers will know, he thrived in 2025 as Martin laboured and Aprilia progressed with a stable and efficient version of the RS-GP that also empowered the Trackhouse Racing team to new heights. From bizarre Italian movie post-race references with a wooden leg to endearing videos of taking his petrified mother for an onboard lap of Misano, Bezzecchi seemed more comfortable in his skin as an entertainer as a racer: as is the new side directive for MotoGP in the Liberty Media era.

The swirl of renewed hype and the demands of his time (again) for non-racing matters did not diminish any of his laconic attitude to this side of the sport. It’s widely accepted that riders detest media work, and having to enter a potential minefield where their words and gestures can sometimes be miscontextualised to damaging effect, but most adopt a professional veneer, and some are quite skilled at the game. Bezzecchi barely covers his disdain for the process and woe betide any journalist or presenter who throws an enquiry that is a) too specific about his bike b) not specific enough, or c) bores him.

During a media debrief at a changeable Mugello for the Italian Grand Prix weekend in 2023, he was innocuously asked what would happen if it rained. Rather than explain his race preparation, mentality, or thoughts of one of the quickest MotoGP layouts on the calendar, he simply replied “Then we will get wet”. Cue a few sniggers for the comic timing. But the truculence wears thin, especially when the media’s role is to try and tap into what makes Bezzecchi special and then to inform readers, viewers or listeners. You can’t tell a story if the character doesn’t want to leave the page. “It’s part of the job, you know,’ he begrudgingly offered at the 2026 Aprilia launch. “The important part for me is to feel good when I ride the bike. It’s the thing that I love to do. So, if I have to make many more media [work] to ride the bike, I will do it. No stress!”

So far 2026 has been dreamy; almost romantic, Bezzecchi even pushing the borders of kitsch by wearing wedding suit-themed leathers and marrying his race-bike to announce a two-year contract renewal with Noale in February. There have been no signs of a 2024-esque slide.

Bezzecchi and Aprilia thrived in baking temperatures and with Michelin’s harder tyre carcass in both Thailand and Brazil but it’s also worth remembering that the Italian combination was just as effective with the 2025 RS-GP in the chilly autumn air of Portimao and Valencia, with the standard allocation and on two very different European tracks. Bezzecchi has yet to dogfight in 2026 because nobody has been able to get close. This will be another examination.

“The target for me, basically, is to try to start in a good way,” was his assessment in January, from a very different position of strength with Aprilia — and next to the maligned Martin  — compared to the previous year. “That is what we missed last year.”

The target has been thwacked in the middle. Even when he struggled on a wet first day in Brazil and was forced into Q1, Bezzecchi went through the steps and emerged to dominate on Sunday.