After a frustrating crash in Jerez, Marc Márquez confesses: "Currently we cannot fight for the title."

Marc Márquez's Spanish Grand Prix certainly didn't go as the pole-sitter had envisioned. Winner of the Sprint class, in unprecedented conditions for Saturday's race, the reigning world champion had nevertheless made a superb start. Leading the race, he was quickly overtaken by his younger rival, Álex, before crashing out at turn 11.

Another incident that takes him further away from his 100th career victory, which he has been chasing since the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix. Going into detail about his crash, Márquez attributes it to a personal error.

"Sometimes, there's no need to explain the falls.", the nine-time world champion confided to the press, including AUTOhebdo in Jerez. I simply crashed. 90% of crashes are the rider's fault. Other riders, like Marco Bezzecchi, explained that there was more wind than during the rest of the weekend in turn 11, which could have destabilized the Catalan rider at that point in the race.

Before this crash, Marc Márquez had already given up on victory. He knew Álex was better than him at Jerez. “Today, I wasn’t at the level to fight with Álex. When I crossed the finish line, I saw that Álex was two tenths of a second behind (on his pit board. Ed.). Then, in turn 5, I could hear him very close behind me. I told myself that he wasn’t my rival. He was in a class of his own. I figured that if he didn’t pass me right away, he would have later, so I didn’t push hard to avoid losing time. I was fighting for 3rd or 4th place; that was my pace today.”

Marc Márquez unable to fight for the title

Another twist of fate that pushes him even further from the championship lead, still held by Marco Bezzecchi. While Márquez had capitalized on the Italian's crash in the Sprint to gain twelve points, he lost 20 this Sunday with Bezzecchi's second-place finish. That's a total of 8 points lost for the Spaniard over the weekend.

“Every weekend, we lose points,” adds the native of Cervera. Every Sunday, we suffer. Something's missing. We're working on it to try and find something. But with our current level, we can't compete for the title.

There is still some positive to take away from this day because during the only loops he covered, No. 93 no longer felt his physical limits, and explains that he was driving "normally".

Tomorrow, the official test will allow all the teams on the grid to test different solutions to any problems encountered at the start of the season. Márquez hopes that Ducati can make progress and reduce the gap with Aprilia, which currently dominates the field. MotoGP since the pre-season.

Interview by Luca Bartolomeo, in Jerez.

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