Marco Bezzecchi admitted for the first time that his poor run of MotoGP form in the summer took a mental toll on him, revealing it triggered an overthinking spiral.
The Aprilia rider’s troubles began at the Hungarian GP, when he was taken out by team-mate Jorge Martin in an opening-lap pile-up. Still in pain, he crashed out of the Brno sprint and hit a marshal in frustration, earning a ban from the Czech GP.
Even as Aprilia returned to the front at Assen, Bezzecchi continued to struggle and suffered a high-speed crash in the main race. Another incident during German GP qualifying dealt the final blow, leaving him in hospital.
The Italian had already explained how he coped with two operations at home, and the pain he suffered on his comeback at last weekend’s British GP.
But in a revealing answer, Bezzecchi has now offered an insight into the mental strain caused by his injuries and lack of results.
Asked if he had to deal with self doubts over the previous months, he replied: “It was tough. Honestly, after Mugello, when we went to Balaton, we started the weekend in a fantastic way. Even if I was struggling, I made some decent performances.
“And in the sprint, I made a very, very good start and that gave me the possibility to fight and achieve a podium. Obviously, afterwards, in the [main] race, with the mistake in the start and the massive crash, I already got a small injury.
“So after that, things started to be a bit more difficult. My mistake in Brno, then the big, big crash in Assen, that was probably a very hard one physically because I had just one broken rib, but all my body was destroyed.
“And then, Sachsenring, I was competitive, but then another mistake ended with a double injury.
“So, it was not a great period, but fortunately, my family, my friends, and all the [VR46] academy staff, starting from Vale, stayed close to me, but my team even more.
“It was a tough period. When you have a period like this, I'm sure these guys [Martin and Raul Fernandez] know very well that many, many things come through your mind and it's difficult to stop thinking.
“But at the end, when we put the helmet on, it's like when you put on earplugs. So it's very, very beautiful.”
Despite lacking upper-body strength and mobility in his knees, Bezzecchi managed to qualify his Aprilia on the second row of the grid and convert that to a pair of podium finishes.
With his first top-three result in a Sunday race since Mugello at the end of May, he has now climbed back up to second place in the standings, albeit 31 points down on Martin.
“It was a very good comeback overall,” Bezzecchi told MotoGP.com. “After Mugello, in general, it was a tough period and also in the summer break, obviously. But now it's already the past.
“I think we did a good job during this time. We never gave up and now we made a good comeback.
“It's time to try to rest a little bit now and try to recover well, especially in terms of body preparation, because it's what I was really missing at the end, apart from the pain.
“But yes, I'm very, very happy. The team deserves this. I'm happy for Jorge. He did a wonderful weekend. He's tough to beat. He will always be tough to beat, but he's a great motivation.
“Happy in general for all of Aprilia, obviously Raul. Ai [Ogura] is always there, even if today he made a mistake. They are doing a great job and I'm just trying to be like them.”
