Aprilia achieved its first MotoGP podium lock-out on Sunday at the French Grand Prix, with factory rider Jorge Martin leading teammate Marco Bezzecchi and Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura across the line.
Martin delivered a psychological blow by chasing down and overtaking Bezzecchi, whom he had not defeated in a Sunday race all season, trimming the Italian’s championship lead to just one point.
It marked Martin’s first grand prix victory since the 2024 Indonesian Grand Prix, when he was en route to the world title aboard a Pramac Ducati.
Earlier expectations of a straightforward wet race—common in the paddock since the weekend began—were dashed on race day as Le Mans delivered its famously unpredictable weather. Riders rolled to the grid with the track dry, facing a tricky tire choice even if conditions stayed that way. Minutes before the start, after the French national anthem had been played, light rain began to fall. But the precipitation failed to intensify before lights out, and unlike a year earlier, no one dashed to the pits at the end of the warm-up lap.
The majority opted for the hard front tire, though front-runners Alex Marquez and Fabio Quartararo chose the soft front.
As it turned out, the race remained entirely dry, leaving riders to manage their tire choices.
Unlike Saturday’s heroics, Martin did not get a stellar start. Pole-sitter Francesco Bagnaia stuttered after a good initial launch, allowing Bezzecchi to take the early lead ahead of Pedro Acosta (KTM) and Quartararo. Soon, Bagnaia found his rhythm, and it became clear Quartararo lacked the pace to fight at the sharp end. By lap 10, the battle settled between Bezzecchi, Bagnaia, and Acosta, with a gap of nearly two seconds to a duel between Martin and Fabio di Giannantonio, who had finally secured a decent start on his VR46 Ducati.
Lurking behind was Ogura, who had less work to do than usual after a solid qualifying and start. He was only 3.6 seconds off the lead at that point, with his trademark late charge still likely to come.
On lap 16, tension broke when Bagnaia crashed at the Dunlop Chicane. That seemed to be the cue for Martin and Ogura—both having preserved their tires well—to push hard. Martin dispatched Acosta on lap 18, raising the real possibility he could catch his teammate for victory with a third of the race remaining.
He completed the task with little drama: Bezzecchi had no answer. Martin slipped through at the chicane with about four laps left, then cruised home unchallenged to cap his comeback from a difficult, injury-hit 2025 season with Aprilia.
Further back, Ogura matched Martin’s progress. He passed di Giannantonio on lap 21, then pounced on a fading Acosta on lap 23. He briefly looked a strong bet to take second from Bezzecchi, but ran out of time to get a wheel inside the Italian.
