MotoGP 2025: Aprilia surges as Bezzecchi dominates Valencia finale

With the dominant pairing of world champion Marc Marquez and his Ducati GP25 sidelined, the final four rounds of the 2025 MotoGP World Championship gave us a glimpse into the 2026 season and a handful of things are abundantly clear.

The first is the rising force of the Aprilia RS-GP which, in the hands of Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing), has shown both speed and the all-important consistency. A pole position and back-to-back lights-to-flag grand prix victories at both Portimao and this season-ending Valencia Grand Prix, a first for both man and machine, is proof the Noale factory and the 27-year-old will have the goods to take the fight to the Bologna squad in 2026.

He is not the only Aprilia rider making headlines either, because after three and a half wayward seasons in the premier class, Spaniard Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) has finally started to find his feet. It began with a somewhat lucky victory at the Australian Grand Prix thanks to a couple of long-lap penalties Bezzecchi was made to serve, but he hammered home that point at the final race of the year with an impressive ride to second place that pushed Bezzecchi for all 27 laps of the Ricardo Tormo circuit.

"I had a lot of fun, especially at the end when Raul was closing," an elated Bezzecchi said after the race. "Very satisfied. Now, we must celebrate, but Tuesday we start 2026."

Another insight into 2026 is the work KTM needs to do to give Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM) the bike he needs to fight for that still elusive premier-class victory. It has been his sheer talent that has allowed him to rack up 20 podiums across the two-race format over his two years in the category, and end the season as top KTM rider with almost double the points compared to his factory teammate, but it is the material underneath him that stopped him putting it all together for that maiden MotoGP victory. And while a second in the Sprint race on Saturday from Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) from fifth on the grid set him up for a strong result in the final GP of the year, he lost the final podium position to Di Giannantonio on the penultimate lap for a strong fourth place.

He secured fourth overall in the standings too, after yet another dismal day for Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo) who was punted into the gravel by Johann Zarco when the race was just four corners old. It was an ending that was somewhat fitting to an otherwise dismal 2025 season, and only he knows what was going through his head as he watched trackside for the next five laps before slowly walking back to his factory Ducati box.

There was more Ducati disappointment in the form of Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati), whose lack of judgement while forming the grid saw him hit the back of HRC test rider Aleix Espargaro’s RC312V and crash. The Italian suffered a fractured left hand which not only ruled him out of the race but also out of Tuesday’s all-important test.

Another glimpse into 2026 came when Luca Marini (HRC) finished seventh to see Honda climb the concessions ladder for next year, moving from rank D to rank C. Among the fewer liberties is that contracted race riders will no longer be able to test outside the official test days, showing that the once dominant Japanese factory is moving in the right direction. It was not such good news in the Sprint when both factory riders were taken down by an error from Mir, who was given a long-lap penalty in the GP as a result, but Marini snatched seventh from Aussie Miller (Prima Pramac) with six laps to go to get the job done.

Speaking of the Aussie, with 2026 teammate Toprak Razgatlioglu in attendance, it was one of the strongest showings from the Yamaha rider all year. Having qualified in eighth, he was on for a ninth-place finish in the Sprint before a controversial call from the stewards dropped him three positions for contact with rookie Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati). And while the pair found themselves together on track in the feature-length race, and Miller making a clean pass on the young Spaniard for sixth on lap 11, the Ducati was just too good for the Yamaha and Aldeguer retook sixth eight laps later on lap 19.

At that point, Bezzecchi had just shy of a one-second buffer back to Fernandez who, with seven laps to go, was some three seconds clear of Marquez. Finding some late-race speed, Acosta eventually relegated a struggling Marquez to fourth on lap 20, but the time that took allowed Di Giannantonio to catch the battle for third and ultimately snatch the podium place from the KTM rider for the Italian’s first weekend double podium.

As Bezzecchi celebrated his second consecutive GP victory, it got worse for Marquez, with teammate Aldeguer passing him in the final corner for fifth, while Aussie Jack Miller also lost eighth place to Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) to finish ninth for seven world championship points.

Enea Bastianini (Tech 3 KTM) rounded out the top ten in what was Tech3 team principal Herve Poncharal’s final outing as team manager, ahead of Miguel Oliveira (Prima Pramac) finishing 11th in his final outing before he heads to the World Superbike Championship.

At the end of the record-long 22-round season, Marc Marquez collected 545 points ahead of Alex’s 467. Bezzecchi (353) finished well clear of Acosta (307), Bagnaia (288) and Di Giannantonio (262). Miller’s strong result did manage to move him up one spot to 17th overall, ending 2025 with 79 points.

The first test of next season will take place tomorrow at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia where we will see the likes of Razgatlioglu and new LCR Honda recruit Diogo Moreira on a MotoGP bike for the first time.