Marco Bezzecchi was one of the standout performers in last year’s MotoGP season. In only his second year, he secured his first victories, contended for the championship for part of the season, and finished in third place… all while riding a Ducati Desmosedici GP22 with an older specification.
This year, he declined to move up to Prima Pramac Racing and have current equipment to remain loyal to the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team. The challenge won’t be easy – replicating his 2023 success with even tougher competition appears to be a daunting task.
Bezzecchi’s ambitions for 2024 and beyond – including reaching the Ducati factory team – last year’s campaign, and the experience of being part of VR46 were some of the key topics in an interview with the rider, which we present here.
How do you score the 2023 season?
It was for sure a very nice season for me, over what I expected. A shame that in the end with the injury I lost a bit of ground in the final part of the season, but honestly I didn’t expect to fight for the championship, even before the injury. But also my comeback was very good, so I can’t complain too much. I don’t like to give myself a score, but it was positive and I am happy.
What was the preseason expectation?
I wanted to win a race. This was my main target, my obsession before the start of the season. I only thought about winning one race. This was my mindset before the start of the season, but I knew I could be fast.
I saw in Portimao. Portimao for me was important, because making the podium there where normally in Moto2 but also in the previous season in MotoGP I wasn’t really quick. It’s a track where I’ve never been enough quick. I don’t know why, but once I made the podium there in the beginning of the season I said to myself that OK, for sure I will be competitive in every race.
But of course it’s difficult to expect from yourself such a good year. I saw that I was competitive, so after winning my first race, the target was just to win another one and try to be strong.
At what point did you think the championship could be possible?
After Misano, I have to be honest that I said that I have to try at least to arrive close to the end. Also in Misano I was having an injury in my hand after the crash at Montmelo, but I saw that I was competitive. Unfortunately not enough for winning, but I was there, and I thought that when I’m suffering and I’m going like this then I can try to fight for the maximum that I can.
Was it the injury at the Ranch that ended your hopes?
The injury of course worried me immediately after the crash in training. I understood that I had a broken shoulder, and I was desperate because of the championship. Of course. Not only to try and stay close to the top, but also for the top three, because at least that is a good result to bring at home for the end of the year. The first thought was to try and come back quick, to continue to be in the fight.
After Indonesia, where I recovered some points from Jorge [Martin] because he crashed, I was really happy – but the weekend in Phillip Island, I was destroyed. Unfortunately, my body was OK but all this part – the neck, the muscles from my arm and my shoulder – was destroyed from the previous weekend. In that point, I thought that if it is like this, then I need to focus on the top three.
So I tried to survive, I tried to take some points and save myself every weekend to at least bring home the top ten.
How difficult was the moment after the crash?
As soon as I realised – you feel pain, and I’ve already broken my shoulder once so I knew how it was. I understood immediately. I was really, really desperate, and I said to the staff that was there to call our trainer Carlo because I wanted to get under surgery that night. It wasn’t possible, but on the next morning it was possible. My mind was difficult to describe, but I think my trainer made a wonderful job.
In the beginning, already before the surgery, he told me ‘I think you can do it, you can come back at the next race.’ So I was really motivated. After the surgery he told me he didn’t know, that it would be really difficult, probably I couldn’t do it for the first race – and this made me even more angry and motivated to come back!
I think it was the key to work really hard, go over the pain in training in these couple of days and on the race weekend, because I really suffered a lot. It was really painful, but the second one was more the fatigue. Pain, plus fatigue.
Some will say that training crashes are stupid, but the Ranch is so important.
It’s not just from us at the Academy. I mean, for a motorcycle racer in the end you have to train. You get these sensations on the bike, and every bike gives you a sensation that is impossible to replicate in the gym or anywhere else. You try to avoid the very difficult or dangerous training, every possibility to get injured, but unfortunately our sport is dangerous anyway.
I am of the idea that I could also get injured in the gym, and that would be even more painful inside. I hate going to the gym. I hate training. I have everything and would just love to always be on the bike. So I’ve heard many people speak, of course, and that’s normal, but I don’t really care a lot. All the athletes understand.
It says a lot about VR46 that you rejected Pramac.
It was a difficult decision for me because Ducati made me this offer for a factory package. I don’t know if it was a full factory or a step in between my one and the full factory, but for me the difficult part was that right now in MotoGP you have to perform really quick. For example, Gardner won the championship and then immediately… I knew that for me, I have built this relationship with my staff and my team, and for me the human side is very important.
Knowing that I had to perform very quickly, having this kind of pressure that I am changing team, that I don’t know if I will feel the same, that I don’t know if I will have the same kind of relationship, the same way to work with my new crew chief because Matteo [Flamigni] probably couldn’t follow me. You have to have this feeling. It’s difficult to explain, but for sure you understand it.
In the end, I said ‘why I have to change from a satellite team to another satellite team?’ My target, as every MotoGP rider, is to arrive in a factory team, and the Academy is working since I arrived in Moto3 to make me arrive in a factory team. They’ve made so much for me, so why do I have to leave them to go to another satellite team?
Of course, the factory bike, the factory package is really interesting and I would like a lot to have it, even in this team, but I know that in the end I can get quite good results even with a year-old package because the Ducati package is very competitive. This was my thinking in that period, and in the end I decided to stay.
What do you need to do differently in 2024?
Of course there are a lot of things to improve, always. You never stop learning in this kind of sport. In every sport. But in MotoGP right now the level is very high, and really you can make the difference in the small details. There are many small details that I would like to adjust.
The behaviour during the weekend, trying to always be calm like I did this year but even more so. Trying to be with my mind fully relaxed so that I can be more focused on the important decisions while riding but also while working inside the box. Improve my riding, improve my training, everything to be more strong.
How do you improve inside the box?
Having Vale is a big advantage, of course, because when he’s here he is fantastic but also when he is at home he gives us a lot of support. I can ask him everything that I want and he is always there to try and help me. I can look at the others also, I can study the data to try and improve.
Is being a non-Ducati factory rider in 2025 interesting?
I would like to be a factory rider for Ducati. It’s a dream that I have, because I really like the way that they work, I really like the project, I like everything. I have to say that the level o the other manufacturers now is coming closer and closer, and there is not any more this superior speed or anything else, and what is more making the difference is that we are eight really strong riders.
Of course, all the riders are strong, don’t get me wrong, but having eight strong riders on the same bike compared to two strong riders like for example Yamaha, is an advantage. This is normal. And for me I would like to stay in Ducati, but we will see.
What are the plans for the winter?
I will try to rest a bit, try to stay with my family and finally with my dog, and try to relax. Then we will start again training, because unfortunately we don’t have so much time to stay completely stopped. Start again training and try to go back into shape for the next season.
