Aprilia’s Marco Betzecchi says he was “pushed in like an Ab ***** D” to try to defeat the Marquez brothers on his way to third in the MotoGP Netherlands Grand Prix Sprint.
The four Grand Prix winners were strong in Assen all weekend and brought it to qualifying.
In the sprint, Marco Betzecchi started quickly, moving to the podium location on the second lap of 13, before leading by Mark and Alex Marquez.
However, a mistake due to “strange” circumstances forced him to drop him from the Marquez brothers and settle him on the first sprint podium since Indonesia’s Grand Prix weekend in 2023.
“No, I wasn’t expecting anything in particular,” Betzekki, who was fourth in Silverstone, the previous best sprint in 2025. “Notice,” told TNT Sport.
“But yeah, that’s been a long time. Unfortunately, I’ve had a lot of trouble with the sprint recently.
“It was important to get a good qualification in the sprint at the beginning of the year, and I was always missing something.
“Today we created a decent qualification – not perfect, because perfection is Paul’s position.
“But it’s a perfect job compared to the last race. So I got off to a good start, I made a good first few laps.
“And when I found myself in the first place, I tried to push him like a bastard and take the guy forward.”
He added: “I was nearby. As I passed Pecco (Bagnaia) and Fabio (Quartararo), I was pumped with a super pump and caught the Marquez brothers and made one and a half wrap.
“But I was close to Alex and was preparing for an attack, and I lost the front in turn 3.
“It was strange with wind and odd conditions compared to the rest of the weekend.
“So I lost a tenth of them, and they were so fast, I couldn’t catch them anymore.
“The races are long so tomorrow is difficult. We don’t know what to do, especially with the front tires. But we’ll do our best.”
Betzecki’s previous best sprint results at Silverstone preceded a successful challenge to his victory at the British Grand Prix.
Despite the similar conditions in Assen, Betzecki is cautious in suggesting that this Sunday’s British Grand Prix repetition will be on the cards.
“The Silverstone was in similar condition, but the tracks are different. I think a lot of Ducatis are fast here.
“I’m fast too, Aprilia is working well. But the long races are always tricky. I’ll do the final adjustments and watch tomorrow.”