Marc Marquez has revealed that his "risky" overtake on Marco Bezzecchi at the start of the MotoGP Aragon Grand Prix sprint was "the only chance" he had to beat the Aprilia rider. The eight-time world champion, who went on to take victory, admitted that attacking at Turn 1 was always part of the plan once he saw Bezzecchi's tyre choice.
Bezzecchi had stolen pole position from Marquez on Saturday morning with a new lap record. However, for the 11-lap sprint, the Italian gambled on the soft rear tyre, while Marquez and the other Ducati riders opted for the safer medium compound. This strategic divergence set the stage for a thrilling opening lap.
"When I saw that Marco was starting with the soft, it was the only chance, to attack at the first corner," said Marquez, who claimed his 20th career sprint win. "It is what I did, it was in my plan, even if I started not so good. But it was my plan to attack there in the first corner. I know that it's a corner where I feel strong, and then when you lead the race, you can control better [the pace]."
Marquez also explained that such a move is only possible when starting from the front row. "When you have only one rider in front, it's easy to attack in that mode. When the rider in front brakes, you brake a bit later. And if you do some mistake, you have the run-off area. So, yeah, it's risky of course. But it's part of racing. Of course, when you are there in the middle of the group, you cannot do this kind of movement. But when you start in front, yes," he added.
The decision to run the medium rear tyre proved crucial. Marquez explained that the soft tyre Bezzecchi used was the same one that caused graining issues for Ducati at Silverstone. "There was no chance for Ducati riders [to use the soft]. All the Ducati riders were with the medium because the soft is the same soft as in Silverstone. And this morning we had the same issue as Silverstone. So, there was no point to take that risk because if you start to have that graining, you lose half a second, one second per lap," he said.
Despite missing out on pole, Marquez was not disappointed. "I mean, it was a good lap. I cannot say, 'Oh, but I did a mistake'. No, it was a good lap. I had two chances. The first chance was already a good lap, but I saw that Marco was faster. And on that time attack, they were very fast. I'm not disappointed. Of course, I would like to be on pole. But when somebody is faster than you, when you feel that you did a good job, you cannot be disappointed," he concluded.
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