        Many riders have appeared on the podium over the first eleven races and these include Marco Bezzecchi, at the latest Dutch round. The Italian powered the Mooney VR46 team&rsquo;s Ducati to a second-place finish, behind only friend and rival Francesco Bagnaia. An electrifying start for the Italian  &ldquo;The level is very high this year and there are many fast riders and bikes&rdquo;, comments the Italian. His rivals are strong, Bezzecchi quick to highlight two in particular: &ldquo;Fabio (Quartararo) is very good, he&rsquo;s always a frontrunner and always scores points, but Pecco (Bagnaia) is also very fast, with more consistency he can fight for the title&rdquo;. Returning to his rookie season, Marco comments: &ldquo;This first half has been quite positive, we&rsquo;ve taken big steps forward and have always improved, finding something to work on over the weekend. I&rsquo;ve learned a lot and it&rsquo;s always positive when you learn&rdquo;. His growth is tangible, and the results speak for themselves, the rider having scored 55 championship points to date. MotoGP is every rider&rsquo;s dream and from a technical standpoint he admits: &ldquo;The speed is incredible of course, the acceleration is what I like the most, but the braking was also striking at first. I&rsquo;m getting used to it now&rdquo;. The unexpected podium and the dilemma of where to keep the trophy...  There have also been three DNFs, one of which remains hard for the Italian to swallow: &ldquo;My biggest regret was perhaps the mistake I made at Montmel&oacute;, because I could have run a really good race. But I crashed too soon&hellip;&rdquo; He made up for this in Holland where he did well in qualifying and then equally well on race day: &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t expect to fight for the podium. A while ago I asked my girlfriend: &ldquo;Where in the house can we put my first MotoGP trophy?&rdquo; He&rsquo;s now enjoying the long summer break, like all his colleagues, and is taking things relatively easy: &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t planned anything this summer because I really like staying at home and resting with my family, my girlfriend, my dog. If I have time I might take a trip to Sicily but we&rsquo;ll see&hellip;&rdquo; Translated by Heather Watson MotoGP, Stoner: &ldquo;Pecco needs to accept he can&rsquo;t win every race&rdquo;       

Having just scored his first podium in the reigning class, one of this year&rsquo;s rookies takes stock of the situation so far. He does have one regret though&hellip;

MotoGP, Bezzecchi: “I’ve learned a lot and it’s always positive when you learn”

        Valentino Rossi is not racing anymore, at least not in MotoGP, and yet the Assen grandstands were brimming with yellow flags exalting 46, the fans celebrating not a win for the Doctor this time, but the results scored by two products of his Academy. VR46 on top  We&rsquo;re talking about Francesco Bagnaia and Marco Bezzecchi, first and second across the line in the Dutch GP, at the end of a solid race in which neither rider made the slightest mistake. While Pecco&rsquo;s performance is nothing new, the consistency demonstrated by Bez came as a surprise, the rider now looking to be on the right path after some difficulties in his first MotoGP races. As he made his lap of honour, Bezzecchi celebrated his first podium in the top class with a Valentino flag: &ldquo;I think the marshall wanted to give it to Pecco, but I took it and it was great to celebrate like that&rdquo;, commented the Romagnolo rider. &ldquo;Vale and his Academy have done an incredible job. Without him, I wouldn&rsquo;t be here, I send him a big hug&rdquo;. Rossi&rsquo;s tweet  Rossi wasn&rsquo;t there in the Van Drenthe paddock, but he nevertheless celebrated the results of &lsquo;his&rsquo; riders with a tweet: &ldquo;Bagnaia and Bezzecchi 1st and 2nd in MotoGP at Assen &ndash; Rossi wrote &ndash; an unforgettable day, made possible thanks to their talent and the amazing work of everyone at the VR46 Riders Academy, the VR46 Racing Team and Ducati&rdquo;. &ldquo;We'll enjoy today (Sunday), we&rsquo;re on top of the world&rdquo;, concluded the nine-time world champion. Translated by Heather Watson Quartararo against the Stewards Panel: &ldquo;Congratulations, I won&rsquo;t try to overtake again&rdquo;       

The nine-time world champion celebrates the results scored by two VR46 Academy pupils in The Netherlands

GP Assen, Valentino Rossi: “Bagnaia and Bezzecchi, we’re on top of the world”

Part of the new Mooney VR46 squad, Marco Bezzecchi is one of two riders who will make his MotoGP debut in Qatar. Flanking Luca Marini &ndash; ready for his second year in the top class &ndash; Bez has already been in action during the 2021 Jerez test and this year&rsquo;s sessions in Malaysia and Indonesia.  The 23-year old Italian considers his pre-season work: &ldquo;Tests are just tests&rdquo; he points out, &ldquo;but they&#39;ve been very useful for me. Sepang was an uphill climb, and I had difficulty with the shake down. But then I gradually made progress during the IRTA sessions&quot;.  Marco also explains how things went at Mandalika: &quot;The team and I worked hard on important details like the tyres and the time attack. I&#39;ve seen how much there is still to do with the electronics, the part I&rsquo;m struggling with the most. Luckily, I have Matteo Flamigni and Sergio Martinez with me, both great and so experienced, and they are really helping me&quot;.  Bezzecchi: &quot;Rossi isn&rsquo;t here, but he is&quot;   It will be strange for everybody not to see Valentino Rossi at the races. The nine-time champion won&rsquo;t be there, and yet he will: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve spoken&rdquo;, continues Bezzecchi, &ldquo;talking about the tests and other things. I&rsquo;ve realised that Valentino is still here. If I need him, Rossi&rsquo;s always here&quot;.  And so how ready does Bez feel for MotoGP? He&rsquo;s halfway there he says: &quot;I think I&rsquo;m&hellip; 50% there. I&rsquo;m growing with the team and we&rsquo;re constantly improving. I think the winter&rsquo;s been good but now we need to focus on the championship&quot;.  Translated by Heather Watson  MotoGP, Suppo: &ldquo;My four-year break is not a problem, we&rsquo;ll fight for the title&rdquo; 

Marco prepares for his reigning class debut in Qatar with the Mooney VR46 Racing Team: &quot;I&rsquo;m growing together with the team, and Valentino&rsquo;s always there if need be&rdquo;

MotoGP, Bezzecchi: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m 50% there, but I have Valentino&rsquo;s advice&rdquo;

        At the Teatro Rossini in Pesaro, the Mooney VR46 Racing Team has unveiled the Ducati Desmosedici bikes that will take to the track with riders Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi. The latter will make his debut in the reigning class and is aiming for the title of Rookie of the Year. Bezzecchi: &ldquo;The first races will be challenging&rdquo;  &ldquo;Qatar is just a breath from now and I will have to learn to manage the positive pressure that will come. It has been a long wait and the adrenaline is a lot now&rdquo;, explains number 72. &ldquo;I'm happy with how the tests went, of course I still have a lot to do, we have only done one race simulation so far and the first GPs will be challenging". Bez has a clear objective: &ldquo;The title of Rookie of the Year is a great goal, more than anything else I'd like to fight for it until the end. I like the Team, they are close-knit and the atmosphere is good. It will be special to get out on the track on this bike: it has the colours of Valentino and the VR46 family and the Italian spirit of Mooney and Ducati.&rdquo; Translated by Heather Watson MotoGP, Marini ready for the season: &ldquo;We can have some fun this year&rdquo; &nbsp; &nbsp;       

On the day of the Mooney VR46 Racing Team presentation, Marco has spoken about the challenge that awaits him in the reigning class, where he&rsquo;ll compete with the Ducati Desmosedici: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be special racing with these colours&rdquo;

MotoGP, Bezzecchi: “The 2022 goal? I want to be rookie of the year”

        It&rsquo;s not exactly the first day of school for Marco Bezzecchi, but the first day of testing at Sepang always has a special flavour, particularly for a rookie with the VR46 &lsquo;riding school&rsquo;. &ldquo;Overall, we&rsquo;ve had a good first day &ndash; says Marco &ndash; in that I felt comfortable in the saddle. I was reaching incredible speeds along the straight, around 330 km/h, but it&rsquo;s a little less impressive than Jerez, where everything was new and the track narrower. I didn&rsquo;t complete so many laps, because I want to save my energy for the next days, particularly the official test days involving all the riders&rdquo;. The physical aspect is crucial in Malaysia, but it appears that the Italian is taking the right approach. &ldquo;I felt good physically, so it seems that I've been doing the right work over the winter, although this is only day one and I didn&rsquo;t lap so much. Me and the team wanted to complete a shakedown today, without pushing too hard, but it&rsquo;s definitely tiring as you need a lot of strength to ride this bike. But it hasn&rsquo;t been too bad.&rdquo; Bezzecchi: &ldquo;Important to work on the riding position&rdquo;  As for the work completed, Marco is focusing on his riding position, something that has kept various Ducati riders in check in the past. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve tried a few things that we didn&rsquo;t have time for at Jerez, with positive results. I've worked a lot on the riding position, very important on the Ducati and something Luca suggested. Ducati highlighted this too, so it was important to do that. Tomorrow I&rsquo;ll work on the tyres, and other things too no doubt&rdquo;. There&rsquo;s a lot for the Italian to learn, starting with the work method employed in the MotoGP garages. &ldquo;Having two bikes is strange, but generally speaking there&rsquo;s a lot more work to do, and a lot more data to check. The basic work is the same, but it&rsquo;s all taken to an extreme in MotoGP which means it&rsquo;s more complicated, but the atmosphere in the garage is good. Of course there was none of the stress of a practice or qualifying session today, but we&rsquo;ll need to be good at managing that too&rdquo;. Lastly, Bez explains why he&rsquo;s chosen the name Marianna (and mariAnna) for his two GP21 bikes and why he&rsquo;s not looking at other riders&rsquo; results right now. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve chosen the name Marianna for my bikes because it&rsquo;s a compound name, I didn&rsquo;t want two different names as that would be like having two girlfriends, which is weird, so I chose this name together with my girlfriend. Making comparisons with other riders? I think it&rsquo;s too soon to compare my performance with that of the other rookies. For now, I think it&rsquo;s important to move forward with my work programme, we&rsquo;ll leave the comparisons for later&rdquo;. Translated by Heather Watson MotoGP, Sepang Test: Fernandez on top on the first day of shakedown       

"I&rsquo;ve worked hard on the riding position as suggested by Marini and Ducati, as well as testing some things we'd carried over from Jerez", comments the rookie after the initial shakedown

MotoGP, Bezzecchi: “The shakedown's done, it’s incredible to reach certain speeds”

This coming weekend also marks the start of the 2021 Moto2 world championship. Many riders have already proved quick in testing, and this list includes several Italians, both the more experienced and category rookies.  Lowes-Bez, the battle has already begun   Judging by how testing went, we&rsquo;re in for some great racing this season. Starting with the riders who were fighting for the 2020 title, or rather Brit Sam Lowes on the Team Marc VDS Kalex and Marco Bezzecchi, who continues with the Sky Racing Team VR46. These two riders were both very strong last season, amassing wins and podiums, and were also out front during the recent test sessions in Qatar. The pair were separated by just 0.013 of a second in fact, which probably means they&rsquo;ll both play a starring role this coming weekend.  On the attack   But several riders are ready to make things difficult for the pair, not least Remy Gardner and Jake Dixon, but also Xavi Vierge and Joe Roberts. In 2020, the race was won by Tetsuta Nagashima, now on sabbatical, but the second-placed rider was Lorenzo Baldassarri, now with Team MV Agusta Forward Racing. Will he be able to score a similar result this year? Other strong Italians are Gresini Racing&rsquo;s Niccol&ograve; Bulega, seventh overall at the Qatar test, and his team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio who, despite still needing to adapt his style to the Kalex (after the Speed Up), knows what he wants this season.  Who are you calling rookie?   And some of the rookies arriving from Moto3 may also prove to be unexpected front runners. Several have already made their presence felt, including Raul Fernandez (the quickest in testing), current champion Albert Arenas, but also Tony Arbolino who will race for Intact GP this season, Celestino Vietti Ramus aboard the SKY Racing Team VR46 Kalex and Yari Montella with the Team Speed Up Boscoscuro. One thing is sure, and that is that we&#39;re in for some real entertainment!  Translated by Heather Watson  SBK, Go Eleven throws down the gauntlet: &ldquo;This blue bike needs to beat the red Ducatis&rdquo; 

If the Qatar test is anything to go by, these two riders will be battling it out right from the opening round. But look out for Gardner and the Moto3 rookies who also start with the bit between their teeth

Moto2, Qatar GP: Lowes and Bezzecchi relaunch the title fight

Now in his second year in the category, Marco Bezzecchi is the final contender for the Moto2 title. His is something of a &quot;Mission Impossible&ldquo;, as he&rsquo;ll need to win at Portimao and hope that Bastianini makes a false step, 23 points ahead of him.  While &lsquo;ifs&rsquo; and buts&rsquo; help no one, a win last weekend would have been very helpful for Bez, considering Marini and Bastianini were not on the podium and an injured Lowes closed just 14th.  Shaped by the difficulties   While his 2019 debut season was one to forget, the Italian scoring just 17 points in 19 races, Bez started 2020 in a very different situation and with a decidedly more competitive package than the KTM of the previous year. A few mistakes and just one non-top-ten finish aside (12th in Qatar), the rest of the season has seen Bezzecchi regularly finish inside the top ten, close to the top 5. His convincing wins at the Stiria and Europe GP stand out, the rider showing his rivals that he too would feature in the title fight.  He&rsquo;s proved that it&rsquo;s possible to survive tough times and come out stronger. A podium in Andalusia after a DNF in Spain, a podium in France after a seventh-place finish in Barcelona and, particularly, a win at Valencia 1 coming after a double zero at Aragon. And now Bezzecchi finds himself in a similar position to 2018, in Moto3, when he was fighting Martin and Di Giannantonio for the title.  Prone to mistakes   While, on the one hand, Bezzecchi has proved he can come through the difficulties, on the other hand, he still has work to do to correct a level of over-excitement that often leads to mistakes. His crash in Spain just six laps into the race is just one example, and the double error at Aragon weighs heavily, the first coming on the penultimate lap when he appeared in control of the race, while the second came on lap three, the rider overly keen to make up for his previous mistake.  He&rsquo;s in good company here though, because his team-mate Luca Marini has also lost points along the way, firstly in Qatar when he came into contact with Dixon at the end of the race, then a 17th position at Le Mans after a crash in practice and the crash at Aragon 1. Sam Lowes, who is back in the mix thanks to three consecutive wins (France and two at Aragon), has also made mistakes.  What will it take in the final race   Bezzecchi is up against a real mission impossible, with 23 points to make up and just one race left to do it in. But history has taught us that that kind of lead is not always enough for the frontrunner to be assured of title success. As we&rsquo;ve seen during the season, one mistake for a rider is enough to turn things upside down, the leadership having changed hands at least three or four times throughout the year, and three times between Aragon and Valencia alone.  So Bezzecchi shouldn&rsquo;t make calculations; he just needs to win and hope something happens to the three ahead of him if he wants to lift the title trophy.  Translated by Heather Watson  Moto2, a four-way battle in Portugal: here are the combinations for title glory 

The Sky Racing Team rider, fourth in the standings and 23 points from Bastianini, comes to Portimao with the regret of having made a mistake that cost him the win at Valencia

7 risultati per 'EN Marco bezzecchi'

MotoGP, Bezzecchi: “I’ve learned a lot and it’s always positive when you learn”

GP Assen, Valentino Rossi: “Bagnaia and Bezzecchi, we’re on top of the world”

MotoGP, Bezzecchi: “I’m 50% there, but I have Valentino’s advice”

MotoGP, Bezzecchi: “The 2022 goal? I want to be rookie of the year”

MotoGP, Bezzecchi: “The shakedown's done, it’s incredible to reach certain speeds”

Moto2, Qatar GP: Lowes and Bezzecchi relaunch the title fight

Moto2, who will win? The pros and cons of Marco Bezzecchi