Clear at the top of the MotoGP stand▨ings by over 60 points from 🍷Jorge Martin, Bagnaia is in a commanding position to retain his title.

The #1 has been in fine form over the lastꦓ few rounds, but that hasn’t stopped Bezzecchi from being one of his toughest opponents.

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The two Italian’s spli🗹t victories at Assen, while Bezzecchi bettered the world champion in the sprint at Silverstone before crashing out of the main race - Bagnaia then completed his third double of the year last time out in Austria.

Riding a year-🔜old machine compared to Bagnaia’s full factory bike, Bezzecchi has been a revelation in 2023 which is why the Italian brand wanted to put him aboard a 2024 machine next season. 

But Bezzecchi rejected that chance and Bagnaia has revealed the advice he gave ♑to his fellow VR46 academy ride🅠r.

"We spoke about itཧ," said Bagnaia. "It🎐’s better for both - in case we lose, we have an excuse! We don’t have the same bike! 

"But we spoke about it. My suggestion, my advice, was to follow being i🍷n the same team. I [understand] the human side. 

"When you feel fine with you𒐪r team, even if you have a competitive but older bike, you can fight for the top positions. 

"We can see when Marco Simoncelli won in 2008 - they removed the factory bike but he still won because the huma𝔉n side was importan🦄t."

After his convincing double at the Red Bull Ring, high praise came the way of Bagnaia from both Fabio Quartararo a🐼nd Marc Marquez, who ca🧔lled the Italian unbeatable at the moment.

But Bagnaia feels as though that’s far from the case: "No. I am enjoy🍬ing it. I have a great feeling with my team. We work a lot, improving our situation. We start not in the bes⭕t way on Friday, but improve every time. 

"In Austria we discovered 💮something to improve our performance. This is one of my favourite tracks.

"I’ve never had a good resul♊t, the best was sixth in 2020. Last year was competitive, I started on the front row, but was unlucky on the first corner. 

"Like alwa🦋ys, if we work well, we can be fast and competitive to fight for the top positions."