Marco Bezzecchi says he struggled to make forward progress during the Italian Grand Prix because he was “lacking confidence”, the Italian in particular lacking front-end feel with his Ducati.
The VR46 racer hoped to be in the conversation for a home victory on Sunday having finished second to title rival Francesco Bagnaia in Saturday’s sprint race, though after starting seventh once again he failed to make any progress and eventually fell back to eighth by the time he took the chequered flag – despite the likes of Alex and Marc Marquez crashing out ahead of him.
Bezzecchi explained following the Mugello encounter that he found himself wrangling with a lack of front end feel from his Desmosedici from the very beginning of the 22-lap event, the two-time 2023 premier class victor admitting he was “struggling a lot to stop and turn”, culminating in suffering on a day he was “expecting more.”
“The start was not the problem because I got off the line very well and I kept my position, I tried to gain some but then immediately on the first lap I felt something strange with the bike and couldn’t push a lot,” rued Bezzecchi.
“I was quite slow and struggling a lot to stop and turn, I was lacking confidence which is strange because the track was the same as yesterday so we’ll have to check what happened.
“The hard front (compound tyre) was the best choice for me and I had the same yesterday, and with the medium rear I was fast this morning and as well in the free practices so it’s weird.
“We’ll check with the guys to make sure that something was not wrong with the bike or my riding, or maybe the temperature because I also couldn’t get close to the other riders, so I tried to survive and was expecting more to be honest.”
Having picked up only eight points for his Sunday result compared to rival Bagnaia’s 25 after the factory Ducati pilot completed the Mugello clean sweep, Bezzecchi heads into this weekend’s German GP at the Sachsenring a commanding 22 points adrift of his countryman in the riders standings.
Bezzecchi concedes that Bagnaia is “a bit stronger at the moment”, though was left optimistic by the pace he showed on Saturday – leaving him hopeful of a return to form at the demanding Sachsenring venue.
“I was watching him (Francesco Bagnaia) yesterday and he is a bit stronger at this moment, today I couldn’t fight directly with him but I think maybe I had the pace to fight with Jorge (Martin) and Johann (Zarco,)” added Bezzecchi.
“But in the end I struggled and finished eighth, but fortunately now we have Sachsenring so we’ll try to find my confidence again.”
