Marco Bezzecchi has described the moment when he hit the back of Marc Marquez’s Ducati in the Indonesian MotoGP, causing a heavy accident that left the newly crowned champion with shoulder injuries.

Bezzecchi’s stunning Mandalika weekend – pole position, then a last lap victory over Fermin Aldeguer in the Sprint – turned to disaster after another bad start in the grand prix.

In his ‘Simply The Bez’ blog, the Aprilia rider – who missed his usual post-race media duties to undergo medical checks – wrote: “On Sunday, I was fired up.

“I had the pace to fight for the win. But I got off to a poor start and immediately got stuck in the pack.

“We reached Sector 2 – the one where I’m usually really strong… Maybe too strong, because suddenly I found Marc’s rear wheel in front of me – and I hit him.

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“We both ran off the track. He went down immediately, I crashed shortly after.

“It was a nasty fall. I went to check on him right away and realised something was broken.

“I apologised – it was my mistake.”

Marquez, who wrapped up the MotoGP title a week earlier in Japan, is thought to have been injured when he slid into a ‘step’ at the start of the gravel trap.

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The Spaniard ultimately required surgery and might struggle to achieve his goal of a return this season.

Meanwhile, Bezzecchi – who has taken big impacts in the last two rounds, beginning with a mistake from team-mate Jorge Martin at Motegi – will be back on track at Phillip Island this weekend.

Although Bezzecchi has frequently downplayed the significance of battling for third in the world championship with Francesco Bagnaia, it’s now on his radar:

“The fight for third in the championship is still wide open, and I know that if I can shake off these knocks, I’ll be really competitive again,” Bezzecchi wrote.

“And for sure, the fire to bounce back – learning from this episode and growing from it – is 100% there.”

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Bezzecchi – currently 20 points behind Bagnaia – is expected to receive some form of penalty for the Marquez incident, which he would then need to serve in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.

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