Marco Bezzecchi to Aprilia ‘ticks all the boxes’

A tumultuous few weeks for Aprilia began with the Noale factory losing its ‘Captain’ Aleix Espargaro to retirement in 2025.

Then came the coup of signing title leader Jorge Martin from Pramac Ducati as Espargaro’s replacement, only for current race winner Maverick Vinales to pledge his future with Tech3 KTM.

The final piece of the Aprilia factory team puzzle is now complete with multi 2023 race winner Marco Bezzecchi agreeing to take Vinales’ place next season.

Speaking on the latest Crash.net MotoGP podcast, just before the official announcement of the Bezzecchi-Aprilia deal, MotoGP editor Pete McLaren said:

“The Bezzecchi deal, which we're all expecting, makes sense.

“Bezzecchi has always said he wants to be a factory rider and this is the last competitive ‘race-winning’ factory seat still available for 2025.

“The Ducati team seats are full for the next two years, the same for KTM. Martin has one of the Aprilia rides and this is the other.

“So it's Bezzecchi’s big chance and I think he’s got to take it.

“I know there are people that might say he could get a factory-spec Ducati at VR46 next year, if Pramac move to Yamaha and Ducati redistribute those bikes.

“But I think even then, if you really want to be a full factory MotoGP rider, this is the chance. 

"It ticks all the boxes if you are Marco Bezzecchi.

“Maybe the deal is already done and we’re just waiting for the announcement…

“But it makes sense for me and let’s see what Bezzecchi can do this weekend at Assen, where he was second to Francesco Bagnaia last year.

“And for Aprilia this weekend, we know their bike has been really good in the highspeed corners through the final sector at Assen.

“Unfortunately, they seem to have lost a bit of that corner speed to improve the hard braking performance this year. And there are no huge braking areas at Assen.

“So it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out, especially in that final sector where Aleix has been so good in the past on the RS-GP.

“And of course, Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez will still be on the ‘23 bike, so he might be one to watch through there.”