Race starts have always been a problem for Bezzecchi. He often couldn’t turn his good starting positions into good race results because he had trouble getting off the line.
Even in the recent Portuguese Grand Prix, Bezzecchi had trouble with the clutch on his Ducati bike. He found the new bike, called GP23, very different from the one before it.
But in the Spanish Grand Prix, something changed. Bezzecchi started well from pole position and was right behind Marc Marquez. He only lost one position when he got squeezed by Brad Binder and Jorge Martin at Turn 1, but he was still in third place.
After the race, Bezzecchi thanked MotoGP legend Rossi for helping him with his clutch issues and finally getting a good start from the front row.
“At the beginning, I was really focused on the start,” he said. “It’s a part of the race that is always crucial right now but it’s also a part where normally I struggle.
“The clutch of our bike is really tough and seems like I’m a little bit stupid and I can’t be very good every time. So yeah, I was a bit nervous for this.
“Vale helped me a lot through this part of the weekend. He gave me a lot of advice and fortunately today I made a very good one and I was there in the beginning.”
Before the race in Jerez, Bezzecchi’s best finish was sixth place. But in the Spanish Grand Prix, he finished third behind Francesco Bagnaia and Marquez. It was his first podium since the last race of last season.
Bezzecchi hopes this performance means he’s back to his best in MotoGP. He had a tough time last season because of a shoulder injury from a training accident, and the beginning of this season was hard too because of the new bike.
“I was missing this feeling since a bit of time, so I very happy to be here [on the podium]. It was a wonderful weekend, to be honest.
“I didn’t expect [it], but I was very motivated when I started from home because last year here I was struggling, so I was motivated for this.
“But also because I was improving step by step. So I wanted to make a good one and fortunately I did it.”
