Marco Bezzecchi is MotoGP’s biggest points improver in the opening rounds of the 2026 season, while Alex Marquez has suffered the sharpest decline.

The Aprilia rider returns to Europe having pocketed 81 out of a possible 111 points from the Buriram, Brazil and COTA events.

That’s a gain of 57 points compared to the same stage last year, when he was sixth in the standings after Buriram, Termas and COTA.

Marco Bezzecchi’s improvement is the largest on the grid, excluding team-mate Jorge Martin, who has scored 77 points this season but missed the entire start of last year due to injury.

The Italian could have extended his advantage further, having lost a potential 24 points through Sprint crashes in Buriram, while holding the early lead, and at Circuit of the Americas, while chasing down Francesco Bagnaia for victory.

Nevertheless, Bezzecchi would currently be trailing Alex Marquez if the Gresini rider had matched the 87 points that put him top of the standings at this stage in 2025.

Instead, the Spaniard has scored just 28 points so far, a drop of 59, the largest on the grid.

Fellow Ducati GP26 rider Francesco Bagnaia is next with a 50-point decline, followed by team-mate and reigning champion Marc Marquez, down 41 points.

Marquez won five races at the start of last year, then crashed out of the US MotoGP.

This season has seen the Spaniard suffer two non-scores – in the Thai GP (technical) and COTA Sprint (crash) – fail to finish on the grand prix rostrum and take only one victory, in the Brazil Sprint.

Marquez’s points loss is matched by VR46’s Franco Morbidelli, who finished in the top five for all but one of the opening six races last year, but only has a single top ten to his name this year.

By contrast, KTM’s Pedro Acosta has scored almost four-times as many points, from 16 to 60, to hold an early third behind Bezzecchi and Martin in the world championship.

For Honda, Johann Zarco is down 12 points year-on-year, while Joan Mir has dropped seven points, while team-mate Luca Marini is up by three points.

Jack Miller was the leading Yamaha rider after COTA last season, with 19 points, but is yet to score on the new V4. Former world champion Fabio Quartararo has slipped from 16 to six points.

The full 2026 vs 2025 breakdown can be seen below:

*Did not start every race.

** 2026 Rookie.

The constructors’ comparison shows that only Aprilia and KTM are in a (substantially) better points position than this time last year.

Ducati made a perfect start to 2025, winning all six races for a maximum 111 constructors’ points, which are awarded for the top rider from each brand in each race.

But the start of 2026 has swung firmly in Aprilia’s favour, the Noale brand leaping from 33 to 101 points. The ten points ‘lost’ were from third places in the Buriram and Goiania Sprints.

While Aprilia has tripled its points tally, KTM has almost doubled its total from 34 to 65.

Ducati is down by 42 points, Yamaha by 19 points and Honda 8 points:

Marco Bezzecchi is MotoGP’s biggest points improver in the opening rounds of the 2026 season, while Alex Marquez has suffered the sharpest decline.

The Aprilia rider returns to Europe having pocketed 81 out of a possible 111 points from the Buriram, Brazil and COTA events.

That’s a gain of 57 points compared to the same stage last year, when he was sixth in the standings after Buriram, Termas and COTA.

Marco Bezzecchi’s improvement is the largest on the grid, excluding team-mate Jorge Martin, who has scored 77 points this season but missed the entire start of last year due to injury.

The Italian could have extended his advantage further, having lost a potential 24 points through Sprint crashes in Buriram, while holding the early lead, and at Circuit of the Americas, while chasing down Francesco Bagnaia for victory.

Nevertheless, Bezzecchi would currently be trailing Alex Marquez if the Gresini rider had matched the 87 points that put him top of the standings at this stage in 2025.

Instead, the Spaniard has scored just 28 points so far, a drop of 59, the largest on the grid.

Fellow Ducati GP26 rider Francesco Bagnaia is next with a 50-point decline, followed by team-mate and reigning champion Marc Marquez, down 41 points.

Marquez won five races at the start of last year, then crashed out of the US MotoGP.

This season has seen the Spaniard suffer two non-scores – in the Thai GP (technical) and COTA Sprint (crash) – fail to finish on the grand prix rostrum and take only one victory, in the Brazil Sprint.

Marquez’s points loss is matched by VR46’s Franco Morbidelli, who finished in the top five for all but one of the opening six races last year, but only has a single top ten to his name this year.

By contrast, KTM’s Pedro Acosta has scored almost four-times as many points, from 16 to 60, to hold an early third behind Bezzecchi and Martin in the world championship.

For Honda, Johann Zarco is down 12 points year-on-year, while Joan Mir has dropped seven points, while team-mate Luca Marini is up by three points.

Jack Miller was the leading Yamaha rider after COTA last season, with 19 points, but is yet to score on the new V4. Former world champion Fabio Quartararo has slipped from 16 to six points.

The full 2026 vs 2025 breakdown can be seen below:

*Did not start every race.

** 2026 Rookie.

The constructors’ comparison shows that only Aprilia and KTM are in a (substantially) better points position than this time last year.

Ducati made a perfect start to 2025, winning all six races for a maximum 111 constructors’ points, which are awarded for the top rider from each brand in each race.

But the start of 2026 has swung firmly in Aprilia’s favour, the Noale brand leaping from 33 to 101 points. The ten points ‘lost’ were from third places in the Buriram and Goiania Sprints.

While Aprilia has tripled its points tally, KTM has almost doubled its total from 34 to 65.

Ducati is down by 42 points, Yamaha by 19 points and Honda 8 points: