Marc Marquez worries Ducati: "The problem is me"

The start of the MotoGP season has not been idyllic for Marc Marquez. Fresh off his ninth world title, a new challenge begins for the Cervera superstar, still dealing with the injury from last October. Even though winter testing suggested he was back to championship level, the Grands Prix have revealed a much tougher reality. Aprilia is currently more competitive than Ducati, the bike that just a few months ago looked unbeatable.

In three race weekends, Marc Marquez has managed only one win, in the MotoGP Sprint in Brazil. Disappointing results for a rider who dominated 2025, with eleven wins in the first sixteen races. In truth, the Ducati rider is still chasing his best physical condition, while the Desmosedici has been outclassed by the Aprilia RS-GP, which erased the technical gap over the winter break. The Red bike isn’t what it used to be, and neither is Marc, grappling with issues in his right shoulder. But the Championship is still long, and no one in Borgo Panigale intends to throw in the towel. “We’ve only raced three times. Obviously, if you rule yourself out from the start, you’re in trouble,” said the reigning MotoGP champion.

He took the checkered flag in fifth after recovering from a penalty that had dropped him to eleventh. The positive sign is that the Texas weekend left him with good feelings, confident that the nearly month-long break until the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez will give him the time needed for a full recovery. So far, luck has turned its back on him... “I made a mistake, and Bezzecchi made a mistake in the same race. We’ll keep making mistakes. I’ll make one, Bezzecchi will make another… the point is that whoever is leading has an advantage and can afford to make more.”

With three races run, Marc Marquez is fifth with 45 points in the riders’ standings, 36 points behind Bezzecchi. While Ducati’s engineers continue work on evolving the GP26, the Spanish ace needs to recover physically. “He’s not at 100% yet,” Davide Tardozzi admitted to Sky Sport MotoGP. The problems emerge especially in the early part of the race. “When he feels good, he’s capable of staying in front. Marc is Marc... What happened in Indonesia still has consequences. He’s not well yet.”

In Borgo Panigale they are probably more worried about Marquez’s health than the Desmosedici GP26. The Texas data is clear: the Red bike is not in major trouble—quite the opposite. The top-speed chart shows Ducati number 93 in first place at 345.8 km/h, followed by Bastianini’s KTM at 344.9 km/h and Ai Ogura’s Aprilia at 344.7 km/h. The high efficiency of the current Ducati MotoGP is also documented by positions 4 and 5 for the factory bikes of Pecco Bagnaia and Alex Marquez. Only Fabio Di Giannantonio, who took P1 in Q2 but failed to make the podium (P4) in the GP, barely stayed in the top 10 with 339.9 km/h.

The Austin circuit should have been fertile ground for the nine-time world champion, yet Aprilia locked out the top two. The Long Lap Penalty certainly cost the Cervera rider some positions, but he didn’t have the pace to win. “The bike is crucial, but so am I. I’m having difficulties,” admitted the Spaniard from Ducati. “The bike is certainly a factor, but the other one is me... I’m more the problem than the bike.”

The weekend in the USA triggered an alarm bell in the Red garage. Gigi Dall’Igna and his crew know they must act fast ahead of the fourth round of the MotoGP World Championship at Jerez, where a test day will be held on April 27. But the focus seems more on the rider. “Marc wasn’t at 100% because of Friday’s crash,” explained Ducati Corse’s General Manager. “With a still-uncertain feeling on the bike, which required setup adjustments and didn’t allow him to be the Marc Marquez we know so well and expect so much from. If we add the constant improvement of our rivals, I would dare say the situation is very clear.”