Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola believes Marco Bezzecchi “needs a break” after a bruising stretch of races that has seen the Italian lose the lead in the MotoGP championship.
Bezzecchi has endured a turbulent spell in the title fight, with two non-scores in the Czech Republic and Dutch Grands Prix proving costly to his championship challenge.
Key highlights
- Marco Bezzecchi has lost the MotoGP championship lead after a series of non-scoring finishes.
- He failed to score in three consecutive Sunday races following crashes and incidents.
- Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola says the rider “definitely needs a break” amid pressure.
- Jorge Martin now leads the standings by seven points ahead of Bezzecchi.
Difficult run of results for Bezzecchi
Bezzecchi’s season has taken a major hit following a controversial and costly sequence of events. He first came under scrutiny after hitting a marshal during the Brno sprint, an incident that led to a ban from the following day’s race. A week later at Assen, he crashed on the second lap while attempting to recover lost positions, losing further valuable championship points.
Earlier, at the Hungarian Grand Prix in June, Bezzecchi was taken out at the start by teammate Jorge Martin in another setback to his title bid. As a result, he has now failed to score in three consecutive Sunday races.
Rivola: “He definitely needs a break”
While Rivola suggested Bezzecchi’s Assen crash was his own mistake, he expressed sympathy for the rider’s situation and said the upcoming summer break comes at an ideal time.
“What can I say? We’ll send him on a week-long vacation, hoping first and foremost that he’s okay and that he’s willing to go,” Rivola said after Sunday’s race.
“He definitely needs a break, because lately he’s been through just about everything. So it’s understandable that he might be feeling a bit under pressure. That said, he shouldn’t have made that mistake, especially since it happened in a spot where you can really get hurt.”
Martin incident and championship picture
Rivola was also critical of Jorge Martin after the Spanish rider wiped out three Aprilia-mounted bikes, including Bezzecchi, at Balaton Park. However, he noted that the reigning world champion showed greater maturity at Assen, pointing to his controlled ride to third place.
Martin now leads the championship by seven points over Bezzecchi, while Fabio di Giannantonio sits a further nine points behind on the best of the Ducatis.
Rivola praises improved judgment from Martin
“Given that we all make mistakes, in Hungary I said that a world champion doesn’t make these mistakes because he knows how to fight for the world championship, which is exactly what he did here,” Rivola said.
“He secured a pole position that only he could have achieved: on Friday and Saturday morning, the Aprilia wasn’t the fastest over a single lap, but he managed to take pole position thanks to his talent.
“In the race, he was outstanding, he got off to a great start, was pulling away, and when the Trackhouse riders began to close in, he didn’t do anything reckless but realised that finishing third was a positive result. That’s the attitude a rider who knows how to win a world championship needs to have.”
