Marc Marquez shakes up Ducati: at Le Mans he doesn't want to rely on rain

The nine-time world champion is ready for the French GP, even if he doesn’t know exactly what to expect: there’s also the rain factor to consider.

A year ago Marc Marquez was dominating the MotoGP championship and no one seemed able to stop him; today the situation is different. The Spanish rider finds himself chasing: he is fifth in the overall standings, 44 points behind leader Marco Bezzecchi. Aprilia has made a big step forward, but it’s too soon to count him and Ducati out. This weekend is the French Grand Prix and the weather forecast for Le Mans calls for possible rain, with conditions that could highlight a phenomenon like MM93.

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At Le Mans the nine-time titleholder took stock of the situation, reiterating that right now he isn’t thinking too much about the title fight: "Potential is what the results show - reports Motosan - and the results show that we have speed but not consistency. So that’s where we need to focus or try to understand why we lack this consistency, which last year was our strength in every kind of condition, on every kind of track. This year we’ve been much more inconsistent. Little by little, I think we’ll solve the problem, but it’s true that, at the moment, with the results we’ve shown, especially on Sundays, we can’t think about the title."

There isn’t a single aspect to focus on to explain why Marquez and Ducati aren’t leading the MotoGP standings: "It’s a combination of things - he comments -. I will never blame everything on the bike, and no team will ever blame everything on the rider. It’s a set of factors. The bike is designed to win and fight for the title, and I have to figure out how to improve."

Rain could help during the MotoGP weekend in France, but Marquez doesn’t want to rely on that factor to win at Le Mans: "It’s a phrase I don’t like, because if a rider hopes for rain to have an advantage, it means that in dry conditions he isn’t showing the level to win. Whether it’s dry or wet, we’ll try to get the maximum. It’s true that I showed a high level in the wet at Jerez, but every circuit is different and in the wet anything can happen."

The former Honda rider again explained his main issue riding the Ducati Desmosedici GP26, a bike that is unexpectedly giving him trouble: "It’s in the fast corners where I struggle the most, especially in left-handers, where I’m definitely slower than last year. It’s the combination of everything, so you try to find time elsewhere, which compromises this aspect; but it’s true that if I want last year’s bike, I have it. That’s where I need to keep working to improve, because if I want to regain the feelings I had in 2025, I have those components and everything I had last year available."

Left-hand corners have always been a Marquez strong suit, but in 2026 he still hasn’t managed to be at his highest level in those sections. In any case, he’s not one to get discouraged: "I’ve come out of worse situations, so we have to keep pushing, try to manage different things, and then we’ll see. We need to keep working in our box to build our foundations." Clear words from the champion, who together with the Ducati team will try to turn the situation around and get back into the title fight.

The original interview in Spanish on Motosan.es