Marco Bezzecchi two laps away from a MotoGP's legend's 11-year-old record

Marco Bezzecchi has not only won the last four MotoGP races, spanning the end of 2025 and start of the 2026 season, but also led every Sunday lap.

That means the Aprilia star has been in the race lead for 101 consecutive laps.

The last time Bezzecchi completed a grand prix lap behind another rider was at the end of last year’s Malaysian round at Sepang on October 26, which the Italian finished in eleventh place.

Official MotoGP statistics state that the current record for consecutive laps in the lead during the ‘modern era’ is held by Jorge Lorenzo, who put his Yamaha at the front of the field for 103 laps in a row from Spain to Catalunya in 2015.

Therefore, Bezzecchi will tie that record if he leads the opening two laps of Sunday’s US MotoGP at COTA, and beat it if he is still ahead after lap 3.

“I didn't even know about this record honestly," Bezzecchi said on Thursday. "It's super cool just to have the possibility to be close to this record, but at the end it's not what is really important for me and for my team. 

"At the end, we try to do our job weekend by weekend and then if we can be competitive we are happy, if not, we will try to work and improve.”

If he remains in front by the chequered flag, Bezzecchi will then join only Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez in winning five ‘MotoGP’ races in a row.

Meanwhile, the last time any rider won the opening three rounds of a season was Marc Marquez in 2014, when the Spaniard took ten victories in a row.

On paper, Bezzecchi - who leads the world championship by eleven points over team-mate Jorge Martin - faces a tough challenge this weekend, having never finished higher than sixth during his previous premier-class COTA appearances for Ducati and Aprilia.

However, Bezzecchi can take inspiration from Maverick Vinales’ form on the RS-GP in 2024, when he swept to a perfect double victory from pole position in Texas.

Marc Marquez dominated the first six MotoGP events held at COTA, from 2013-2018, as a Repsol Honda rider.

But the last six Texan rounds have seen GP victories divided between five different riders (Alex Rins twice, plus Marc Marquez, Enea Bastianini, Maverick Vinales and Francesco Bagnaia) on four brands of bike (Suzuki, Honda, Ducati and Aprilia).

Reigning champion Marquez fell from the lead of last year's race, when Bezzecchi finished sixth.