Marc Márquez won the Misano MotoGP Sprint, yet the reigning champion still regards Marco Bezzecchi as the rider most likely to set the pace in Sunday’s grand prix. Márquez said after the warm-up that he expected Bezzecchi to become even more competitive when both riders switched to medium rear tyres for the race.

Different tyre choices, same benchmark

Bezzecchi took pole position for the Misano event with a new all-time lap record, although the supplied evidence does not give the record’s numerical time. He lost the lead to Márquez at Turn 1 in Saturday’s Sprint. Márquez used a medium rear tyre, while Bezzecchi ran a soft, and Márquez stayed ahead to take the win and 12 points.

The warm-up offered a stronger direct comparison. Both riders used medium rear tyres, and Bezzecchi was 0.376 seconds faster than Márquez. The pair had traded the top position in every session at the event except Qualifying 1, reinforcing why Márquez continued to identify Bezzecchi as the reference point. During the riders’ parade, he said Bezzecchi had been exceptionally fast and was likely to remain so throughout the race, while Márquez’s team still needed to understand its own level of competitiveness.

A manageable points calculation

Márquez also framed the weekend through the championship. He started the grand prix 14 points behind leader Jorge Martin of the factory Aprilia team. Martin had finished third in the Sprint, while Bezzecchi was 22 points from the lead before the race. Márquez noted that his Sprint victory had already secured 12 points; even a weekend total of 20 points for him against 25 for Bezzecchi would mean losing only three points in that comparison, an outcome he considered acceptable.

The contest, Márquez stressed, would not necessarily be limited to himself and Bezzecchi, since other riders also showed strong pace on the medium rear tyre. Second place would therefore be acceptable after the Sprint victory, but Márquez still intended to do everything possible to make Bezzecchi’s race more difficult. The evidence identifies the event as Misano MotoGP and refers to Sunday’s grand prix, but supplies no explicit calendar date.