Valentino Rossi: I Have a Big Responsibility for Marco Bezzecchi

RiderTua.com – After successfully convincing Marco Bezzecchi to stay at VR46, team owner Valentino Rossi felt he had a big responsibility towards his student. As is known, Bezzecchi was offered the opportunity to ‘exchange’ his 1-year-old Desmosedici on the VR46 team for a factory-spec bike on the Pramac team for 2024. However, he rejected this ‘golden’ opportunity and chose to stay with the teacher’s team.

That decision didn’t come to fruition until last weekend, when Bezzecchi took his first podium of the season at the Spanish GP. “We are very happy for Bez. I feel I have a big responsibility, because he chose to stay with us and race with a longer spec bike (1 year) where we had some problems,” said Rossi.

Valentino Rossi: I have a big responsibility for Marco Bezzecchi

Valentino Rossi added that Marco has great potential and must continue to go 0.1 seconds faster on his bike like he did at Jerez. “A beautiful race, an important podium, a first for him and also for the team,” added ‘The Doctor’.

Bezzecchi shone in MotoGP last season. The rider from Rimini, Italy, won his first grand prix in the main class and was the first for the VR46 team in Argentina. The 26-year-old rider maintained his status as a title contender until the final series when he struggled with an injury he suffered in training.

After convincing Bezzecchi to stay, the VR46 Team then lost Rossi’s younger brother, Luca Marini, who moved to Repsol Honda.

However, Bezzecchi’s performance this season has not been outstanding. P6 at Portimao was the best he could achieve before finishing 3rd behind Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo) and Marc Marquez (Gresini Ducati) at the Jerez GP last week.

At least until Jerez, Bez felt that GP23 was much more difficult than the GP22 he used last year.