Marc Marquez\u2019s championship margin was relatively modest, they could reason. Seven different riders won a Grand Prix, four of them victorious more than once. A manufacturer other than Ducati, MotoGP\u2019s dominant force since midway through 2022, won three of the year\u2019s final four races. <\/p>\n
Sounds close and competitive, right? <\/p>\n
Not so fast. <\/p>\n
Yes, Marco Bezzecchi gave Aprilia back-to-back wins for the first time in its premier-class history<\/a> in Sunday\u2019s season-ending Grand Prix of Valencia, the Italian leading from lights to flag to take his third win of the season in the same fashion as his second just seven days previously in Portimao. <\/p>\n Aprilia stablemate Raul Fernandez, a shock winner of the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island in October<\/a>, was second for Aprilia\u2019s first 1-2 in over two years. <\/p>\n Ducati\u2019s Fabio Di Giannantonio had to fight past KTM\u2019s Pedro Acosta to sneak third place, preserving Ducati\u2019s 88-race podium streak that, remarkably, dates back to the 2021 British Grand Prix. <\/p>\n All five MotoGP manufacturers finished the season with a bike inside the top 10 in the final race. <\/p>\n All facts. With one very large asterisk. <\/p>\n MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n RACE REPORT<\/a> Italian signs off in style as Aussie banks top-10 finish<\/p>\n THE BIGGEST MOMENTS <\/a> Improbable wins, sliding doors and a champ\u2019s return define 2025<\/p>\n With Marc Marquez a trackside spectator in Valencia for the fourth straight round as he recovers from right shoulder surgery following his accident on lap one of the Indonesian Grand Prix, younger sibling Alex Marquez\u2019s sixth place saw the final margin between the siblings in their history-making season shrink to a respectable-sounding 78 points. <\/p>\n Marc Marquez has won titles by much, much bigger margins and with more victories in a season. But the world champion\u2019s absence only showed why Ducati moved mountains to get him in its factory team for 2025. The 32-year-old remains MotoGP\u2019s biggest difference-maker more than a decade after his 2013 debut, and Sunday underlined why. <\/p>\n Bezzecchi and Aprilia never looked like losing, and Fernandez showed why the smaller of the two Italian factories is now unequivocally MotoGP\u2019s second-best squad. Alex Marquez faded to sixth, and just three Ducatis finished in the top 10. KTM, the Austrian manufacturer which has been beset with financial woes and off-track stability on multiple occasions this year, matched that number. <\/p>\n And then there\u2019s Marquez\u2019s teammate, Francesco Bagnaia. <\/p>\n The two-time MotoGP champion has either won or finished second in the past four seasons, securing his 2022 and 2023 titles at the same Valencia circuit. On Sunday, the Italian lasted all of four corners before he again became an early spectator; this time wasn\u2019t his fault, as he was clattered by Honda\u2019s Johann Zarco and dumped into the gravel trap, Zarco receiving a long-lap penalty for his moment of misjudgement. <\/p>\n It was Bagnaia\u2019s fifth-straight non-scoring Grand Prix since Marquez won the title in Japan in September<\/a>, a race Bagnaia \u2013 against the run of play \u2013 won handsomely from pole position. <\/p>\n Like Marquez, Bagnaia didn\u2019t score a single Grand Prix point after Motegi across five races \u2013 and Marquez didn\u2019t start four of that quintet. <\/p>\n Marquez\u2019s substitute Nicolo Bulega \u2013 who had never raced a MotoGP bike before last weekend in Portugal \u2013 finished 15th in Valencia to score one of the factory Ducati team\u2019s two \u2013 yes, two \u2013 Grand Prix points in the final five rounds. <\/p>\n Yes, Bezzecchi was impressive. Fernandez arguably more so, given the Spaniard crashed so heavily in practice in Portugal last weekend that he missed the Grand Prix altogether with a right shoulder and collarbone injury. Di Giannantonio saved Ducati\u2019s blushes. Acosta signed off the season with his fifth top-five finish in a row, even if the wait for his first MotoGP victory will endure into his third season. <\/p>\n But 2025 was all about Marc Marquez, whether he was on the bike or not. His presence \u2013 25 wins in 35 starts across sprints and Grands Prix until Bezzecchi ended his year early in their Mandalika crash \u2013 was undeniable when he was racing. And even more so when he wasn\u2019t. <\/p>\n Marquez won the title with five rounds to spare, led by 201 points after Japan when he\u2019d almost doubled Bagnaia\u2019s points tally, and still led by 183 points when his season ended abruptly in Indonesia. He effectively took 20 per cent of the season off, and still had a significant margin.<\/p>\n Aprilia are coming, KTM is rising, and former Japanese giants Honda and Yamaha are showing signs of life. But Ducati has Marquez, and the final standings showed why he\u2019s still MotoGP\u2019s must-have asset. <\/p>\n Without him, the final quartet of races looked \u2013 felt, were \u2013 completely different.<\/p>\n Marquez didn\u2019t feature on track at Valencia, but his absence only highlighted how much he dominated 2025. (Photo by Jose Jordan \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n BEZZECCHI MAKES AMENDS, AGAIN<\/p>\n The longer the race, the happier Bezzecchi is; for a second straight weekend, the fastest rider in the field put a Saturday disappointment behind him to score biggest on Sunday and secure third in the championship, the best-ever finish for an Aprilia rider. <\/p>\n The Italian \u2013 who turned 27 on the Wednesday before the final race of the season \u2013 was on pole in Portugal last weekend but finished behind Alex Marquez and Acosta in the sprint<\/a> before dominating the Sunday Grand Prix<\/a> over 25 laps for a comfortable win. <\/p>\n In Valencia, a late pre-sprint decision to run the soft-compound Michelin front tyre backfired after he made a slow start and faded to fifth<\/a>, but Bezzecchi made amends on Sunday with a strong start and again led for every lap, winning by six-tenths of a second after Fernandez\u2019s late pace gave him food for thought as the laps ticked down. <\/p>\n MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n SPRINT REPORT<\/a> Spaniard goes back-to-back as Aussie cops penalty<\/p>\n \u2018DON\u2019T HAVE MUCH TIME\u2019 <\/a> The rider who holds the key to the MotoGP rider market puzzle<\/p>\n \u201cI was super motivated after yesterday because for different reasons, I wasn\u2019t good enough to fight for the podium [in the sprint] and I was a little bit angry with myself,\u201d Bezzecchi said of Aprilia\u2019s first 1-2 finish since the Catalan Grand Prix of 2023. <\/p>\n \u201cI started in front and put my rhythm on, and I was feeling good and able to manage [the race] until the end. I was not [surprised] from Raul, I saw his pace yesterday and I was hoping for a little bit less, but in the end, the last two laps, I was a bit afraid. <\/p>\n \u201cI was managing through all the race and it never got too scary, I was always in control, but then in the last two laps I stared to think I was in a little bit of trouble with the rear [tyre] as Raul was coming.\u201d <\/p>\n Bezzecchi won at Silverstone in round seven after his first six Grands Prix yielded just 38 points, the Italian sitting in 12th in the standings after the French Grand Prix. <\/p>\n Finishing just six-tenths of a second behind Marquez in a tense Dutch Grand Prix<\/a> in round 10 was a turning point, and from San Marino in round 16 to the end of the year, Bezzecchi took four pole positions, won three sprints and two Grands Prix, and was only outscored by Alex Marquez (105-99) in the final four rounds. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m happy for how the season ended \u2026 it\u2019s true that from Silverstone, but especially from Assen \u2026 that was the moment we started to fight constantly for the top five, top six, and I was able to make some good races, some good battles with Marc and battles in the front,\u201d Bezzecchi said, looking ahead to Tuesday\u2019s one-day test at Valencia that marks the unofficial start of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was super cool, in the beginning [of the season] we were suffering a lot. It\u2019s important for us, this test on Tuesday. It\u2019s already a beginning to have a decent start to next year. Of course all the riders are super strong, but Marc and Alex [Marquez] in particular, they\u2019ve been amazing this season. We will try to fight them.\u201d<\/p>\n Bezzecchi\u2019s best-ever MotoGP season ended with back-to-back wins and third in the standings after he was 12th six rounds into 2025. (Photo by Javier SORIANO \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n MILLER FINISHES 2025 WITH STRONGEST SHOWING IN MONTHS<\/p>\n Jack Miller finished a difficult first season for Yamaha with a flourish at Valencia on Sunday, the Australian running as high as sixth place midway through the 27-lap race before fading grip saw him fall to ninth at the chequered flag, passed by former KTM teammate Brad Binder on the final lap of the race. <\/p>\n The result was Miller\u2019s first top-10 Grand Prix finish since he was 10th in the Czech Republic in July<\/a>, 10 rounds previously, and he was comfortably the most competitive Yamaha in Valencia, Fabio Quartararo well behind him in 11th before the 2021 world champion crashed out with four laps remaining. <\/p>\n The result \u2013 Miller\u2019s fifth top-10 showing in 22 Grands Prix \u2013 saw him rise to 17th in the final standings with 79 points, his fewest points since 2016, and his lowest finish since he was 18th in that same season for Honda. <\/p>\n While the stats don\u2019t paint a pretty picture, Miller was a comfortable second of Yamaha\u2019s four riders this season after Quartararo\u2019s teammate Alex Rins was just 14th at Valencia, eight seconds behind Miller and 11 points behind him in the standings (19th).<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763321169_134_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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