Alex Marquez believes his brother Marc Marquez was never at risk of losing the lead of the San Marino Grand Prix, saying the factory Ducati MotoGP rider was “playing” with his rivals.
In the closing stages of Sunday’s MotoGP race at Misano, the top three riders were separated by just one second, with both Alex Marquez and Pedro Acosta closing in significantly on the race leader.
Even as KTM’s Acosta dropped back, the younger Marquez kept the pressure up for several laps, before the reigning champion pulled away on the final tour to claim his fifth victory of the season.
However, the Gresini rider believes the fight for victory was never as close as it appeared, saying Marc Marquez always had enough of a buffer on him.
“When I overtook Jorge [Martin], Marc was nearly a second in front of us, so I said, ‘okay, try to calm down a little bit and [mount an attack] later on,” he recalled while speaking to MotoGP.com.
“But he managed that gap in a really good way. When I was pushing, he was pushing; when I was a little bit slower, he was slower. So, he was playing a little bit with us. He was riding in a really good way.”
Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing, Marc Marquez, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images
One of Marc Marquez’s main title rivals was eliminated on the very first lap, when Marco Bezzecchi slid out from the lead at Turn 13.
That left Marquez battling with the other factory Aprilia of Martin for the lead, but he too dropped out of contention just before the mid-way point of the race after developing arm pump.
Alex Marquez believes Marc started prioritising his championship challenge over a race win after Bezzecchi’s opening-lap crash.
“Today, he didn’t ride in the best of ways. He knows how to ride in a better way,” the Gresini rider said of Marc Marquez.
“I think with the crash of Bez and playing for a championship, he relaxed a little bit too much at one moment.
“Later on, he was not riding in a way that he put all the risk. I think he was riding at 99%. He just put his 100% for a few laps to make that gap and to keep that gap, but later on, he was playing a little bit.”
Alex Marquez believes his own victory bid was dented by a poor qualifying session in which he crashed twice and ended up ninth on the grid.
“We paid a little for the extra energy that we put in the beginning coming from P9,” he explained.
“We lost the victory options in qualifying. I said the best dream was a podium finish. But when you dream something, you know it will be really difficult, so the real objective was to be P4, P5, P6.
“But in the warm-up, I felt really good. And when I did a really good first lap [in the race], I said, ‘I need to go to the front’.
“I was able to ride in a really good way and I’m so happy for the team. They helped me a lot after the difficult qualifying on Saturday.”
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