Marco Bezzecchi rebuilds momentum with Austrian podium double
NXTbets Pro | Published On: September 21, 2026
Austrian weekend
Bezzecchi left the Austrian MotoGP weekend with a clearer picture of where he stands. He took third in both the sprint and the 28-lap Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, a strong response after his crash at Misano. He described the weekend in blunt terms, saying his “brain was on fire” while he tried different approaches to make the bike work better. He briefly led on the opening lap, a sign that he found a sharper edge early in the race. He kept himself in the fight throughout the Grand Prix and stayed close to Aprilia teammate Jorge Martin to the finish. The result gave him a podium double, but it also underlined how hard he had to work for every position. Bezzecchi said the pace was still not at the level of the front-runners, and that gap shaped the weekend from the start. Even so, the outcome showed progress after his mistake at Misano.
Bezzecchi studies the data
Bezzecchi said he attacked the weekend with a detailed review of the data. He said he stayed open to changes and “picked up a little from everyone,” a line that summed up how much he leaned on the people around him while searching for more speed. The work mattered as Bezzecchi tried different ideas to close the gap to the leaders. He said the Austrian result came on his own, which is how he framed the value of the podiums. He did the work, stayed engaged with the data and found enough pace to fight for a place at the front. The weekend also showed how small errors shaped the outcome. Bezzecchi came close to beating Martin in the Grand Prix, but a mistake at Turn 10 cost him time and changed the shape of the battle. He recovered well after that and stayed near Martin through the finish, but the lost time kept him from turning pressure into a higher result. For Bezzecchi, the weekend was less about a single clean run than about piecing together enough answers to keep moving forward.
Bezzecchi and Misano
The Austrian podium double did not erase what happened at Misano, and Bezzecchi said so himself. He said the result did not make up for the crash there, even though the mistake at Misano helped Marc Marquez win the San Marino Grand Prix and regain the championship lead. Bezzecchi said he had tried to stop Marquez at Misano, but he crashed after ignoring an Aprilia warning not to attempt first-lap heroics. In Austria, he kept pushing for progress despite the pace gap and his knee problems. He said his knee injury was still causing problems on a track where riders stay tucked into the bike and keep the knee bent, which made the challenge more physical across the weekend. The pain and the pace gap made the job harder, but he still left with points. Bezzecchi said the Austrian result showed progress, even if he still trailed the championship fight by 42 points. He called the podium “simply doing my job,” a measured view.
