Marc Marquez and Bezzecchi Collide; Melandri Takes a Venomous Swipe at Valentino Rossi

In recent days, controversy has flared up again in MotoGP—partly due to the tensions between Ducati and Aprilia, and partly because of Valentino Rossi’s upcoming autobiography: at the center of it all is, as always, Marc Marquez. Last Saturday in Qatar, his contact with Marco Bezzecchi during the Sprint race sparked a lot of debate, but the No. 93 rider—on the verge of winning his tenth title—was not penalized: a decision that infuriated Aprilia.

Former MotoGP rider Marco Melandri weighed in bluntly on the issue during the “Chiacchiere da box” podcast, where he defended the Catalan rider: “Only someone who’s never been on the track can blame Marquez. He was on the same line as the lap before; Bezzecchi gave it a shot—and did so quite well. It happened to me too at Jerez in 2019 when I attacked Davies and we both crashed; they penalized me. Could Bezzecchi have tried it in a safer spot since he was faster? Yes. Did Marquez do the right thing by sticking to his line? Yes. It was a racing incident; 99% of the time, the rider on the outside is the one who crashes.”

“So many people blamed Marc, but then I’d like to understand why, in 2015 in Argentina, when Marquez was on the inside and Rossi was on the outside, Rossi changed his line coming out of the corner and Marquez went down—and Marquez was blamed…,” said the former rider from Ravenna, recalling the incident with “The Doctor.”

“Help me understand: on what basis do we decide who’s right or wrong—based on personal preferences or based on what actually happens on the track?” asked ‘Macio’ pointedly.