A perfect Sunday score of 75 points has carried Marco Bezzecchi into the MotoGP World Championship lead after the opening three rounds.
But it’s been a very different situation on Saturdays, where the factory Aprilia rider is only ranked tenth-best for Sprint points this season.
Bezzecchi has scored just six out of a possible 36 points after crashing from the early Sprint lead in Buriram, then again while chasing Pecco Bagnaia for victory at COTA.
Those mistakes cost Bezzecchi a potential 24 points and mean his only Sprint score came from a fourth place in Goiania.
“Marco was perfect again on Sunday; we just need to fix Saturday,” Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola acknowledged at COTA.
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“He’s the Sunday man but as soon as he also becomes the Saturday man, it will definitely be scary,” Rivola added.
Had Bezzecchi secured at least seven out of those 24 ‘lost’ Saturday points, he would have set a record for most points from the opening three rounds of the season.
MotoGP world championship leader after three rounds (Sprint era):
2026: Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) 81 points.
2025: Alex Marquez (Ducati) 87 points.
2024: Jorge Martin (Ducati) 80 points.
2023: Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati) 64 points.
Marco Bezzecchi, 2026 US MotoGP.
© Gold and Goose
By contrast, Bezzecchi’s team-mate Jorge Martin – MotoGP’s most successful Sprint rider – has been the highest scoring ‘Saturday’ rider so far with 24 points, headlined by a debut Aprilia victory in COTA.
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Despite crashing in Texas, reigning champion Marc Marquez would still have matched Martin’s Sprint points total without the penalty in Buriram.
Marquez sits three places higher in the Sprint rankings than his overall riders’ championship position with factory Ducati team-mate Pecco Bagnaia also performing better on Saturdays, ranking four places higher in Sprint points than in the actual standings.
KTM’s Pedro Acosta (third) and Gresini’s Alex Marquez (eighth) are the only riders in the world championship top ten to hold the same respective position for Sprint scores:
MotoGP 2026: Sprint only points (max. 36)PosW.C. PosNameBikeSprint Points12Jorge MartinAprilia2425Marc MarquezDucati2133Pedro AcostaKTM1547Ai OguraAprilia1559Pecco BagnaiaDucati1264Fabio di GiannantonioDucati1176Raul FernandezAprilia1088Alex MarquezDucati9911Enea BastianiniKTM7101Marco BezzecchiAprilia61110Luca MariniHonda51212Brad BinderKTM41317Fabio QuartararoYamaha41419Joan MirYamaha31515Johann ZarcoHonda11613Franco MorbidelliDucati01714Fermin AldeguerDucati01816Diogo MoreiraHonda01918Alex RinsYamaha02020Toprak RazgatliogluYamaha0Grand Prix only points
Six of the top eight riders in grand prix only points mirror the overall championship order, with only Marc Marquez and Raul Fernandez swapping places.
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The biggest discrepancy is for Bagnaia, who ranks only twelfth for Sunday points but sits ninth in the overall standings thanks to his Saturday form.
MotoGP 2026: Grand Prix only points (max. 75)PosW.C. PosNameBikeGP Points11Marco BezzecchiAprilia7522Jorge MartinAprilia5333Pedro AcostaKTM4544Fabio di GiannantonioDucati3956Raul FernandezAprilia3065Marc MarquezDucati2477Ai OguraAprilia2288Alex MarquezDucati19910Luca MariniHonda181011Enea BastianiniKTM151113Franco MorbidelliDucati14129Pecco BagnaiaDucati131312Brad BinderKTM131414Fermin AldeguerDucati131515Johann ZarcoHonda121616Diogo MoreiraHonda91718Alex RinsYamaha31817Fabio QuartararoYamaha21920Toprak RazgatliogluYamaha12019Joan MirYamaha0Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter