Marco Bezzecchi says being the man to achieve Valentino Rossi’s VR46 operation’s maiden MotoGP rostrum finish is “special”, admitting he “stole” a Rossi flag in appreciation for his mentor.
Having qualified a strong fourth on Saturday, Bezzecchi held station in the early laps of the Dutch TT behind the lead trio that were expected to dice for victory – though this would soon become second after Fabio Quartararo and Aleix Espargaro clashed at Turn 5.
From this point on the VR46 Ducati pilot continued to keep eventual race winner and factory Ducati ace Francesco Bagnaia under pressure, running within the wheeltracks of his countryman for the entire 25-lap distance to eventually secure a maiden MotoGP podium finish in only his 11th start in the class just 0.444s adrift of supremacy.
Bezzecchi’s rostrum was also the first for Rossi’s VR46 outfit, which is currently embarking on its first campaign having taken over the Avintia operation it sponsored last season ahead of this year, the Italian describing the feeling of scoring the important milestone for the MotoGP legend’s team as “special.”
“It’s fantastic, Davide (Tardozzi) told me he was expecting this but honestly I wasn’t because we worked well over the weekend but we used the medium (front compound tyre) because last year nobody used the soft and the temperature was too cold to use the hard,” explained Bezzecchi.
“I didn’t expect to use the soft and go so fast, with the medium I wasn’t very quick so it was a risk but Matteo (Flamigni, chief mechanic) helped me make a step in my mind because he was very confident.
“All weekend I was really good at managing the tyre, so even if I put the soft in I could be very consistent, this is fantastic for me.
“I loved seeing the marshal with the flag of Vale (Rossi) and I immediately stopped and stole the flag so I could say thank you to him while he was watching, he will always be my idol and for me it is special to be the first rider on the podium with his team and I hope to give him may more of these as a present.”
Bezzecchi affirmed that he wasn’t fazed by the brief appearance of rain mid-way through the contest, the three-time Moto2 race winner revealing his intention to keep riding hard until “the rain started to hit my neck.”
“I liked the mixed conditions from Moto2 as it gives me a lot of adrenaline, I really like these conditions even if nobody else does and I just watched Pecco (Bagnaia), he didn’t slow down much so I said I won’t slow down.
“Until the rain starts to hit my neck I won’t slow down, this is the mantra my Italian coach always said to us.”
