Bezzecchi Comes Out On Top At Portimao

The 2025 MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix saw Marco Bezzecchi win and take an important step towards third overall in the rider's standings

- Gaurav Davare

APART FROM AN ODD Malaysian Grand Prix, Marco Bezzecchi and Aprilia have been on quite a roll in the second half of the 2025 MotoGP season, consistently fighting at the front.

The 2025 Portuguese Grand Prix weekend started off on a similar trend with Bezzecchi taking pole position. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) lined up in second place, while Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) once again pulled off an impressive qualifying performance in third position. The weekend also had WSBK frontrunner Nicolo Bulega (Ducati Lenovo Team) make his MotoGP debut, standing in for seven-time champion Marc Marquez for the last two rounds of the season. Despite not being as experienced as the other MotoGP riders on the grid, he managed to qualify a respectable 18th on the grid.

Sprint

THE SPRINT IN PORTIMAO COULD be used as the best case study as to why sprints were introduced to the MotoGP racing format, as it was action-packed from start to finish. While Bezzecchi started well, Acosta was hounding him immediately, and made the move for the lead stick after a couple of laps.

Amongst this battle, Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing) was closely following and on the very next lap, got ahead of Bezzecchi. What followed afterwards was an intense wheel-to-wheel scrap between Acosta and Marquez with the lead changing hands multiple times. With three laps to go, it looked like Alex Marquez had won this battle as he eked out a small gap to Acosta. That all changed on the final lap as Acosta was right on his rear tailpipe, but in the end, Alex Marquez just about held off Acosta and Bezzecchi to win arguably the best Sprint race in MotoGP yet.

Race