Bezzecchi masters the pain: Knee injury worse than expected

– Despite the pain, Marco Bezzecchi fought his way onto the podium in Silverstone as third in both the sprint and the Grand Prix. Tears flowed right after the sprint finish, as the Aprilia rider had to grit his teeth to achieve this performance.

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On July 11, Bezzecchi broke his left collarbone in a crash during qualifying. He also sustained an injury to his left knee. Both injuries were treated surgically.

The knee was the bigger problem, as he revealed in Silverstone: “Both injuries were tough. With the shoulder, it was actually the collarbone, but the break was very severe. The surgery was accordingly somewhat tough.”

“And with the knee, it was a very deep wound. In Germany, they stitched it up so I could fly home. But I had to have it reopened.”

“When they reopened it, they saw that I had also scratched the bone. So the knee surgery was complicated. It was difficult to switch off at home during this break.”

“It looks like a minor injury, but in the end, that’s exactly what drives me crazy. The days at home were a disaster. I have to force myself especially during changes of direction.”

“I can’t fully bend the leg, so it’s difficult for me. And on this track, there are many changes of direction.” The knee also hurt badly and was swollen because a small piece of the bone was missing.

Saturday was already a feat of strength

Saturday was already an extreme physical effort for Bezzecchi: “Qualifying really destroyed me. To do that lap, I really had to put in a kind of effort that is always hard.”

In the ten-lap sprint, he felt four laps from the finish that his body could hardly go on. Nevertheless, he managed to bring third place over the finish line. The pain was immense.

“On the left side, generally everywhere, because I still don’t have enough strength on the left side of my upper body. I do train the shoulder, but I couldn’t really train as if nothing had happened.”

“And I hardly trained the leg in the last days before traveling. So the pain when fully bending the knee was strong. I also felt a strange sensation in the foot when I downshifted.”

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He didn’t want to let Alex Marquez pass

Therefore, it was questionable how Bezzecchi would endure the Grand Prix distance of 20 laps. But he was able to keep Alex Marquez (Gresini-Ducati), who was pressuring from behind, at bay even in the final phase.

“When I saw Raul pulling away like that, I was a bit angry because I felt I could keep up with him in terms of speed. But I knew I would have been completely done after six laps if I had tried.”

“So I had to be patient. When I then dueled with Jorge, he was a bit faster. And when he overtook me, I lost a bit of adrenaline and was very tired.”

“Actually, I immediately lost the position to Alex. Then Alex made a mistake in turn 1, and that gave me the confidence to say: This is another chance I have to take. And I gave everything until the end.”

Bezzecchi celebrated third place almost like a victory. For the first time since his home win in Mugello, he was back on the podium in a Grand Prix. The difficult phase since that win seems to be over.

How he managed the pain, the 27-year-old does not know. But exhaustion was clearly visible after the race. “The shoulder hurts, but more because of the muscles around the shoulder, neck, and back.”

“It’s a bit difficult to explain. So everything feels a bit sore. The knee certainly hurts more directly in that area. I had a big, big hole in the knee.”

“Repairing that was a huge job for the doctors; they really had to work inside. The knee also feels strange. But regarding the pain, maybe the knee was more painful.”

“Regarding the loss of strength, I had a bit more problems in the entire upper body,” says Bezzecchi. However, his engineers did not specially adjust the bike; the seating position was the same as always.

In the championship standings, the Italian improved to second place. The gap to his teammate Jorge Martin grew to 31 points.

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