the previous day.
"People need to respect all
the riders," Marc said. "Yester
-
day [some journalists] said my
brother
didn't attack me like the
others. So, why didn't Marco
attack me? If the front rider is in
a very equal level at this track,
which is super narrow, you can
-
not do it."
While the winner
was by no
means a surprise, Marc's lead
challenger was. In another
tumultuous weekend for Aprilia,
when the still absent Jorge Mar
-
tin's (Aprilia Racing) manager,
Albert
Valera, faced off with fac-
tory CEO Massimo Rivola, Bez-
zecchi underscored the RS-GP's
potential. No one
had pushed
Marc as hard this campaign.
If the championship looked
nailed on for Marc after his
Mugello heroics, Assen rubber-
stamped it. Accusations of fam
-
ily favoritism were the least of
Alex's
concerns after a collision
with Pedro Acosta (Red Bull
KTM) exiting turn five. It not only
deprived him of Sunday points,
but broke the second metacar
-
pal in his left hand, leaving him
unable
to compete in the next
German round. Marc's title lead
Marquez suffered two enor-
mous crashes on Friday—the
first
at Ramshoek in FP1, the
second at Ruskenhoek in
practice—at two of the track's
fastest turns. Despite a cut to
the chin, and strain in the groin,
he was quickly back riding as if
the spills hadn't happened.
"Marc has two big balls, so
he'll be strong—well, now only
one and a half," joked Alex in the
aftermath.
From there, Marc blocked
out all aches and niggles. Ac
-
knowledging his weakness in
the fast
rights, he and his crew
set his bike up to be strong on
the brakes, meaning he could
overtake and then defend into
turn one and turn 16, the track's
two main overtaking points. He
would manage the rest.
He would need it. Sunday's
race saw Pecco Bagnaia (Leno
-
vo Ducati) and Pedro Acosta
(Red
Bull KTM) get among
a lead group that, at times,
featured six riders. Yet no mat-
ter how close Bezzecchi and
the others got
through the fast
rights of turns 10, 11 and 12,
Marquez could just hold on.
Twenty-one times he entered
the Geert Timmer chicane with
a rider just behind and 21 times
he exited ahead.
It was a vindication for the
Marquez family. After Alex
clearly had the better rhythm
through the Sprint, yet made no
attempt at passing, accusations
flew in the way of the Gresini rid
-
er of riding soft against his big
brother.
Yet Bezzecchi couldn't
attempt a pass either, leading
Marc to call out the critics from
VOLUME 62 ISSUE 26 JULY 1, 2025 P83
the Sprint I had a good start, and this
is positive," he said. "I overtook riders
since the beginning, and that means
we've made progress. I gained posi-
tions, was able to fight, and gave my
best. I wanted to stay with the top
10, but it was hard; we need to better
understand our limits." After Sunday's
11th, he said, "We wanted to improve,
but we didn't nail the job. We need
to get back to where we were a few
weeks ago."
MYOWNRACE
(Left) Marquez's
68th career
premier-class
win matches
that of Giacomo
Agostini.
(Below) Alex
Marquez
pressured his
older brother
the whole way in
the Sprint race
but crashed out
of Sunday's GP.
