Marquez's main 2026 threat? Bezzecchi's big weekend

Marco Bezzecchi didn’t quite win the San Marino Grand Prix, but across the Misano weekend he made life much harder for Marc Marquez than the runaway championship leader has been used to in 2025 - and it showed when Marquez crashed from the sprint lead.Does Bezzecchi and Aprilia’s recent progress together signal a 2026 title challenge? Val Khorounzhiy, Simon Patterson and Matt Beer debate that on The Race MotoGP Podcast.Plus KTM’s bizarrely shambolic weekend of technical failures, the Yamaha V4’s debut and a long wait for the thoughts of Pecco Bagnaia.Want more MotoGP podcast content? Sign up to our motorbike-only Riders tier on Patreon for our 2015 revisited series, ad-free listening and more.Follow the Race Moto channel on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠Check out our latest videos on ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Marc Marquez finally lost a MotoGP race for the first time in three months at Barcelona, but it was his brother Alex who beat him rather than his double champion factory Ducati team-mate Pecco Bagnaia.Bagnaia wasn’t even close to the podium in Spain, let alone victory, as his troubled season reached a woeful new low with a weekend spent mostly among the backmarkers.Simon Patterson, Val Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer try their best to explain what’s going on with Bagnaia, what could be done about it and what it says about him on The Race MotoGP Podcast.Plus the KTM (and in particular Enea Bastianini) resurgence, more penalty/racing standards angst and possibly Val’s most bemused response ever to a Simon declaration.Want more MotoGP podcast content? Sign up to our motorbike-only Riders tier on Patreon for our 2015 revisited series, ad-free listening and more.Follow the Race Moto channel on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠Check out our latest videos on ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The final pieces of MotoGP’s 2026 rider line-up have fallen into place, even if those last deals haven’t yet been announced.Is Miguel Oliveira’s likely exit from the grid fair? What should we expect from fought-over rookie Diogo Moreira?Simon Patterson, Val Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer debate that on The Race MotoGP Podcast - and Matt also challenges the panel to cast an eye forward to 2027 in the process and take a punt on how many riders will stay be in the same place another year on (and we don’t think it will be many).We also discuss why the World Superbike Championship isn’t picking up MotoGP riders - yet - despite all the factory deals up for grabs there, and assess MotoGP’s next rising star David Alonso’s long-term prospects after his spectacular first Moto2 win.Want more MotoGP podcast content? Sign up to our motorbike-only Riders tier on Patreon for our 2015 revisited series, ad-free listening and more.Follow the Race Moto channel on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠Check out our latest videos on ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A (contentious) new venue for MotoGP but exactly the same result, as Marc Marquez continued his dominant streak at Balaton Park.But with team-mate Pecco Bagnaia and erstwhile title rival Alex Marquez floundering, is Ducati getting a bit too reliant on Marc in the same way that proved Honda’s undoing?Simon Patterson, Val Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer debate that in the context of recent gains from Aprilia (with Jorge Martin on the pace now too), KTM and even Honda.Plus our takes on Bagnaia’s odd declaration of a game-changing breakthrough during an awful weekend, Alex Marquez getting back to bad old habits and whether MotoGP should be racing at Balaton at all.Want more MotoGP podcast content? Sign up to our motorbike-only Riders tier on Patreon for our 2015 revisited series, ad-free listening and more.Follow the Race Moto channel on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠Check out our latest videos on ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is Pecco Bagnaia's latest MotoGP 2025 collapse - along with his post-race suggestion he is "running out of patience" - a sign his position in the factory Ducati team has been fundamentally damaged?The Race MotoGP Podcast panel - namely Val Khorounzhiy and Simon Patterson - discuss this and more live from the Red Bull Ring, a track Marc Marquez has now emphatically ticked off from his MotoGP 'yet to win' list.The title race is over - but how's the racing? And what on Earth was going on with Yamaha this weekend?Plus, Fermin Aldeguer's star-making performance, two riders' continued resurgence and where Jorge Martin's recovery is at.Want more MotoGP podcast content? Sign up to our motorbike-only Riders tier on Patreon for our 2015 revisited series, ad-free listening and more.Follow the Race Moto channel on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠Check out our latest videos on ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As MotoGP 2025 prepares to resume from its summer break, the paddock looks poised to be joined by Formula 1 cult hero Guenther Steiner as his long-mooted deal to take over the Tech3 team moves closer to fruition.Val Khorounzhiy, Simon Patterson and Matt Beer go behind the Netflix Steiner stereotype to explain what he’ll actually bring to KTM’s second team and ponder Tech3’s wider future shape.And ahead of the second half of a season that we’ve often wished would be a bit more entertaining, we share our specific wishes for the remaining races - from riders we really want to see show their true selves to how we want the Marquez brothers to handle their habitual 1-2s from here.Want more MotoGP podcast content? Sign up to our motorbike-only Riders tier on Patreon for our 2015 revisited series, ad-free listening and more.Follow the Race Moto channel on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠Check out our latest videos on ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When we asked for your questions about Marc Marquez in a competition to win a signed Insta360 Ace Pro 2 MM93 Edition camera, many of our absolute favourites were the big hypotheticals - what if Marquez had signed for this team at that time, or a particular injury had never happened, or even what if 2010/20s MotoGP had happened without him.The Race MotoGP Podcast delves into five of these massive ‘whats ifs’ this week, as Simon Patterson, Val Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer rewrite Marquez-related MotoGP history.Do any of our alternate realities end up with Dani Pedrosa winning a championship? Or does Val declare that Maverick Vinales would’ve dominated the era? Listen to find out…For a free gift with your Insta360 purchase, visit store.insta360.com and use promo code 'therace' at checkout! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s huge excitement over what World Superbike king Toprak Razgatlioglu will bring to MotoGP when he finally makes the move across in 2026 after so many near-deals.But is there enough appreciation for the world Razgatlioglu is leaving? His MotoGP move - and the chance of main rival Nicolo Bulega soon following him - has put a new spotlight on World Superbikes, as has the question of what new Dorna owner Liberty Media plans to do with it.The Race MotoGP Podcast’s roving reporter Oliver Card was given special access to the World Superbike Championship’s recent Donington Park round to learn more about the series’ appeal and standing, armed with questions from The Race Members’ Club.Want more MotoGP podcast content? Sign up to our motorbike-only Riders tier on Patreon for our 2015 revisited series, ad-free listening and more.Follow the Race Moto channel on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠Check out our latest videos on ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Marc Marquez's fifth consecutive MotoGP weekend double has put him 120 points clear at the top of the standings - so how soon can he wrap up the title?Valentin Khorounzhiy and Simon Patterson discuss Marquez's latest triumph in The Race MotoGP Podcast's Czech Grand Prix episode, recorded on location at Brno.They delve into Ducati's unusually vulnerable weekend aside from Marquez's double - and into Alex Marquez's mistake that removed himself and the luckless Joan Mir from Sunday's race, the last before the series' summer break.They also discuss Jorge Martin's remarkably happy, best-case scenario return to MotoGP action with Aprilia - and a career-best premier-class weekend for Raul Fernandez.Want more MotoGP podcast content? Sign up to our motorbike-only Riders tier on Patreon for our 2015 revisited series, ad-free listening and more.Follow the Race Moto channel on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠Check out our latest videos on ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Marc Marquez recorded a fourth consecutive sprint-grand prix double in MotoGP 2025 at the Sachsenring, to virtually nobody's surprise - but did he take too much risk given the championship picture to ensure he went unbeaten?And why did Sunday's race come so close to having single-digit finishers, with Turn 1 proving shockingly troublesome in a span of just a couple of laps?Valentin Khorounzhiy and Simon Patterson discuss this and more in a post-race podcast recorded on location in Chemnitz, while also talking about Jorge Martin's reported decision to stay with Aprilia.Plus, are Pedro Acosta's errors alarming amid the backdrop of his dissatisfaction with KTM? Should Yamaha look for a way out of the Alex Rins deal before the end of 2026? And how badly has Diogo Moreira hurt his MotoGP '26 chances with the crash he'd caused in Moto2?Want more MotoGP podcast content? Sign up to our motorbike-only Riders tier on Patreon for our 2015 revisited series, ad-free listening and more.Follow the Race Moto channel on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠Check out our latest videos on ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.