Marc Márquez has started the World Championship on the wrong foot and already knows who his new main rival will be.

BarcelonaMarc Márquez's quest for a tenth World Championship has gotten off to a bad start. The rider from Cervera suffered a puncture and was unable to finish the first MotoGP Grand Prix of the season at the Buriram circuit in Thailand. Nothing has gone right for the reigning world champion, who has seen the Aprilias outperform the Ducatis. Before the puncture, Márquez was fighting for a podium finish, but always far behind the man who seems destined to be his new main rival: Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia RS-GP). The 27-year-old from Rimini is the man of the moment. After dominating qualifying, he won with ease, consistently riding well ahead of his rivals. A protégé of Valentino Rossi seems determined to prevent Márquez from surpassing his mentor in titles. A rivalry that never ends.

It was a day to forget in Cervera, as reigning runner-up Àlex Márquez crashed and failed to score any points. In contrast, Pedro Acosta from Murcia celebrated his second-place finish, just a day after winning the sprint race. His KTM RC 16 was the only bike from a different manufacturer to compete against the Aprilias, and in fact, he now leads the World Championship standings with 32 points, ahead of Bezzecchi's 25. Raúl Fernández from Madrid (Aprilia RS-GP) finished third, ahead of Jorge Martín in fourth and Japan's Ai Ogura in fifth; all riding Aprilias.

Today was Bezzecchi's day. Third in the standings last season, he won the final two Grands Prix. In fact, with today's victory, he becomes the first Aprilia rider to win three races in a row. The Rimini native proved far superior at the Buriram circuit, just as he had shown in preseason testing. Indeed, Márquez admitted: "He's the clear favorite for the first race and will be competing for the World Championship." After crashing out in the sprint race while leading, today he occupied the pole position and defended his first position with a good start, ahead of Marc Márquez. The pace of the Rimini rider was far superior to that of his rivals, and for that reason, he carved out a space for himself while the world champion battled with Fernández and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ducati 16). But the one who kept improving was Pedro Acosta, who overtook Di Giannantonio, Jorge Martín, and Marc Márquez to move into second place.

Those who weren't having a good day were Álex Márquez (Ducati Desmosedici GP26) and Francesco Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati Desmosedici GP26), far from the podium. Bagnaia, who will almost certainly leave Ducati this year to compete with Aprilia, managed to finish in the top ten, while the younger Márquez brother crashed out, failing to score any points. Towards the end of the race, Márquez realized he had worn his tires too much and finally suffered a puncture on lap 21, while fighting for third place in a race that confirms the significant improvement of the Aprilias, ready to dethrone the Ducatis after their dominance last season. The second race of the season will be on March 20th at the Ayrton Senna circuit in Goiânia, Brazil, which is making its debut on the calendar.

Spanish dominance in Moto2 and Moto3

In the Moto2 World Championship, Spanish riders dominated. Manuel González (Kalex) from Madrid took the victory ahead of Izan Guevara (Boscoscuro) from Mallorca and Daniel Holgado (Kalex) from Alicante. In the Moto3 junior race, the Spanish dominance was similar, with David Almansa (KTM) from Puertollano winning ahead of Máximo Quiles (KTM) from Murcia and Valentín Perrone (KTM), who rides for the Spanish-Argentine class.