Bezzecchi, Fernandez deny Aprilia MotoGP 'team orders' meeting at Phillip Island

Aprilia riders Marco Bezzecchi and Raul Fernandez have denied that a meeting involving all four RS-GP riders at Phillip Island was about MotoGP team orders.

The factory has publicly stated that team orders will not come into play until riders are mathematically out of title contention, a scenario that can only potentially happen for Fernandez after Sunday's race.

However, there has been debate over whether such tactics should already have been used at Mandalika, where Aprilia dominated performance-wise but failed to extend Jorge Martin's championship lead over Ducati's Marc Marquez.

After Bezzecchi and Fernandez tangled at Turn 1 of the Sprint, Martin surrendered the lead due to tyre-pressure concerns before a late mistake dropped him to fourth.

Aprilia then rebounded with an historic top-four sweep in Sunday's Grand Prix, but Martin was only the third of those machines, behind Bezzecchi and runner-up Fernandez.

That meant Martin left Indonesia, a circuit where the RS-GP held a clear advantage over Ducati, with the same two-point lead to Marquez with which he arrived.

With Fernandez nursing a broken finger, unable to challenge Bezzecchi after he overtook and over 100 points behind Martin in the standings, some felt the Trackhouse rider should have handed second place to the title leader.

Asked by MotoGP's Matt Birt whether team orders had been discussed during a pre-Phillip Island meeting involving all four Aprilia riders, Bezzecchi replied:

“No, I mean, it was just a normal meeting.

“We always work together with the Trackhouse Superfile team. Aprilia is always working with them, and their work has always been super important for us.

“So it's normal to sometimes have the possibility to make a meeting and you know, just chat a little bit and discuss a little bit about all the situations.

“So, for the moment, this is it.”

Just 'a coffee'

Fernandez then added: “It was not a meeting, it was a coffee, no?!”

“Yeah, it was a coffee,” agreed Bezzecchi. “Two or three coffees!”

Bezzecchi and Fernandez each claimed a victory at Phillip Island last season, when Martin and Marquez were absent through injury.

The RS-GP is again expected to be the bike to beat this weekend, although forecast rain could shake up the results.

Bezzecchi is currently 46 points behind Martin, with a maximum of 185 points available over the final five rounds.

Ai Ogura is 96 adrift, and Fernandez 119.