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Neil Hodgson: MotoGP Championship is 'wide open' after Marco Bezzecchi crashes out of Grand Prix Czechia Sprint
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Updated 20/06/2026 at 18:22 GMT+1
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TNT Sports expert Neil Hodgson believes there is no clear favourite for the 2026 MotoGP Championship after Francesco Bagnaia won the Grand Prix Czechia Sprint on Saturday afternoon. Aprilia's World Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi crashed out for the fourth time in a Sprint this season.
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The race was won by Francesco Bagnaia, and it was the former world champion’s first triumph since Malaysia, where he was first in October 2025’s Sprint.
Before that, his last full-length race win came at Grand Prix Japan, also last season.
However, the Ducati Lenovo man has been gradually improving since the start of the current season, and Hodsgon praised Bagnaia for finding himself back on the comeback trail at long last.
He told TNT Sports at the end of the race: ”It's so good to see Pecco riding well. I've been asked so many times by people, ‘What is going on, what is the inside story, what is the gossip?’
”I give people the same answer: ‘I have not got a clue.’ I wish we knew what was happening with him. So much talent."
Discussing Sunday’s race, Hodgson thought another good start for Bagnaia could give him a real shout of beating the competition once more.
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He began: ”He can’t deal with it when he is in the group. If his tyre pressure goes up, he loses sensation and feeling, and he can't deal with it.
”That’s what we hear the most from Pecco, that he’s too sensitive.”
He continued, explaining: ”You give him the perfect bike, give him the sensation he needs, this is what he can do. There’s a reason he's a multiple world champion.”
Bezzecchi, the world title leader, suffered his fourth crash in nine Sprints so far this season. The Aprilia rider now leads his closest challenger, team-mate Jorge Martin, by 15 points, having started the weekend 20 clear.
It had been noted that Bezzecchi usually outperforms in longer races, and when it was suggested to him that there is a mental block for the Italian in Sprint races, Hodgson felt that was now an undeniable weakness.
He observed: ”I feel for Bezz, I really do. We’re at it. This is the reality.”
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Second place went to Ai Ogura, who will again start on pole for the full-length race on Sunday, live on TNT Sports and HBO Max, but third was given to Bagnaia’s stablemate, Marc Marquez.
With Bezzecchi dropping out, the current world champion now trails this season’s leader by 65 points, and after his double victory at the previous round, at Grand Prix Hungary, he appears to be closing in on a credible title challenge once more, despite needing surgery on a broken shoulder screw and a fractured metatarsal in May.
Another Ducati rider, VR46 Pertamina’s Fabio Di Giannantonio, was in fourth spot in the Sprint, which keeps him in third place in the overall standings.
Hodgson suggested that the title race is still far from over, and praised Di Giannantonio’s consistency this season.
”15 points is nothing,” he said. ”This championship is wide open. This man, a quality ride for Diggi [Di Giannantonio] yet again - third in the championship.
"I almost feel guilty myself for not giving this man the credit. But every week he's there, isn't he?”
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