MotoGP 2025: Bezzecchi wins in Portugal

The ever-improving Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) scored a dominant lights-to-flag victory at the penultimate round of the 2025 MotoGP Championship at Portugal’s Portimão circuit, coming within a handful of points of wrapping up third overall in the standings. It’s hard to believe it’s just the laid-back Italian’s second victory of the season, such has been his recent run of form, but after his win at the British Grand Prix and Trackhouse Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez’s victory in Australia, it’s a new milestone for the Noale factory as it celebrates three premier-class victories in a single season for the very first time.

Bezzecchi’s weekend got off to a perfect start when he nabbed pole position from Red Bull KTM’s Pedro Acosta and Monster Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo. Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) appeared untouchable in practice, but a costly crash in Q2 saw him starting from the middle of row two.

Marquez’s speed continued in the Saturday Sprint as he fought his way through to take victory from Acosta, and although Bezzecchi occupied the final step on the podium, it was clear Marquez and Acosta had a little more.

It was during the warm-up session, Bezzecchi revealed, that the factory Aprilia squad found what he needed to fight for the victory – although the fight was very much within. An eight-tenths-of-a-second gap was opened up on just lap two of the 25-lap contest, and it kept rising as the laps wore on.

Marquez drafted past Acosta to start lap two, while Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) did the same to Quartararo’s Yamaha. Green shoots of hope saw Bagnaia qualify in fourth, but the faster-than-expected race pace meant the Italian was already two seconds behind Acosta after just five laps.

A fast-starting Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) was in sixth behind Quartararo, up from 14th on the grid, ahead of another fast starter in Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati), who gained four places early on to sit seventh. Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) was eighth ahead of Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha) and Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia), who was the only Trackhouse rider on track after a fast crash in practice ruled out Australian GP winner Fernandez.

Franky Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) didn’t finish the opening lap before he crashed out, while both Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) and Joan Mir (HRC) suffered mechanical faults early on, although Bastianini did rejoin the race, albeit three laps down.

There wasn’t a lot of passing during the Portuguese Grand Prix, but when it did happen, it was decisive and often dramatic. Like Aldeguer’s move on Binder for sixth place on lap nine, which relieved the South African of a fair bit of bodywork as the Rookie of the Year barged through. His move on Quartararo for fifth two laps later was cleaner, but it left the Frenchman in the clutches of Binder, and Aldeguer had some three seconds to make up to Bagnaia ahead.

He didn’t have to wait long to be promoted another position, as Bagnaia’s decent day soured when he crashed out of a lonely fourth place, recording his fourth consecutive Sunday DNF – something he hasn’t experienced since his rookie season in MotoGP.

With Aldeguer now up to fourth, Binder was desperate to pass Quartararo, but despite his superior top speed, he couldn’t find a solution to the Yamaha rider’s impressive defence. It was only a mistake by Quartararo on lap 14, who was riding on the limit to keep the KTM behind him, that eventually allowed the South African through.

By now, Bezzecchi had a two-second buffer ahead of Marquez, who in turn was some 2.6 seconds clear of Acosta, as the KTM rider’s trademark tyre woes looked to have blighted his hopes for anything better than third place. A battle for sixth between Quartararo, Zarco and Ogura picked up, while Miller had his work cut out keeping Luca Marini (HRC) at bay for 11th.

When Bezzecchi crossed the line to start lap 20, he was 3.4 seconds clear of Marquez, who looked to be suffering his own tyre issues as he began losing time to Acosta. Marini grabbed 11th from Miller on lap 21, while the gap between Marquez and Acosta began to tumble; his three-second buffer was down to 1.7 seconds one lap later and to less than a second when they crossed the line to start the penultimate lap. Ogura did find a way through on Zarco, with Di Giannantonio also relegating the veteran Frenchman to eighth the next time around.

At one stage Bezzecchi was over four seconds clear at the head of the race; however, a well-deserved fist pump as he crossed the line saw him take victory 2.5 seconds clear of Alex Marquez, who managed to hold off Acosta by 0.6 seconds, as the still-winless young Spaniard grabbed his 20th premier-class podium across the Sprint and GP formats.

Aldeguer was fourth, almost 13 seconds behind Bezzecchi, ahead of Binder, Quartararo, Ogura, Di Giannantonio and Zarco. Pol Espargaro (Tech3 KTM), still deputising for the injured Maverick Vinales, completed the top 10. Miller was 12th at the line, two places ahead of teammate Miguel Oliveira, whose final GP appearance in front of his home crowd finished with two points in 14th.

The final point went to 2025 WorldSBK runner-up Nicola Bulega (Lenovo Ducati), who is filling in for Marc Marquez for the final two rounds as preparation for his test-rider role in 2026 and a possible full-time GP ride in 2027.

With Marc (545 points) and Alex (445) locked in for a historic 1–2, Bezzecchi (323) is now 35 points clear of Bagnaia (288), who is coming under pressure from Acosta (285) for fourth overall.

All will be decided at the final round of the series, which kicks off in Valencia this coming Friday.