Bezzecchi not expecting consistent repeats of Portugal MotoGP podium in 2023

After crashing out of Saturday’s sprint race in Portugal, VR46 Ducati rider Bezzecchi thrust himself into podium contention in Sunday’s grand prix.

The Italian, who started seventh, was one of the big winners of the lap three clash involving Marc Marquez, Jorge Martin and Miguel Oliveira as he was instantly promoted to fourth.

Overtaking KTM’s Jack Miller on the fifth lap for third, Bezzecchi quickly pulled away from the pack behind to score his second career podium.

But despite enjoying a strong pre-season and riding the Ducati that won the 2022 championship, Bezzecchi doesn’t believe Portugal’s podium will be a regular occurrence this season.

“Well, I hope of course,” he said when asked if this podium would set the tone for the rest of his season.

“The bike is for sure better than last year, it’s a big step.

“The difference is nothing crazy, but it helps in the riding. As soon as I tried it, I felt this.

“The target is to try to be consistent. Of course, I don’t expect to be fighting always for the podium because still I need to improve in many areas of the riding.

“But there are some tracks where I’m closer and somewhere I am further away, so I will try to be closer in those tracks.”

Bezzecchi had hoped to be able to close down his deficit to second-placed Maverick Vinales, but feels he took too much out of tyres trying to break away from Gresini’s Alex Marquez.

“When I saw that the gap with Alex Marquez was zero, I said ‘OK, I have to push’,” he added.

“I made like seven, eight laps pushing really hard. I was in 1m38s.

“I opened a gap, but then I tried to manage the rear tyre and Maverick in that part was maybe even stronger. So, trying to escape [Marquez] I damaged the tyre.”

Bezzecchi’s team-mate Luca Marini crashed out of Sunday’s grand prix in Portugal having also fallen out of the sprint in an incident that left factory Ducati rider Enea Bastianini with a broken shoulder.