MotoGP, Alex Márquez shines in his own right: he has stepped out of his brother Marc’s shadow

The two-time world champion opened up: from comparisons with Marc to the present and how he wants to be remembered.

2025 was Alex Marquez’s best year in MotoGP—results speak for themselves. He finished runner-up behind his brother Marc, who had a practically perfect season before the injury caused by Marco Bezzecchi in Indonesia. For the BK8 Gresini rider, it was a great demonstration of his worth, an answer to those who often criticized him and labeled him as “the brother of” without considering his actual talent. Of course, having a brother like Marc is inevitably a bit overwhelming, but over time he learned to handle it all.

Interviewed by the official MotoGP website, Alex reiterated that having a brother like Marc wasn’t easy at first and that only later did he have a mental shift: "In the beginning I struggled a bit with the pressure, I thought too much about comparing myself to him. But there was no need to measure ourselves against each other; I tried to focus on the positives. I’d arrive at the races thinking: ‘I’m doing the same work at home as the rider who wins in MotoGP.’ That gave me a lot of calm, confidence, and motivation."

In 2025 he finally felt like Alex Marquez and not just Marc’s brother: "Last year was special — he recalls — and magical. I finished runner-up, I took many podiums and also my first MotoGP win. When you’re fighting with a unique rider and a legend like Marc, you have to raise your level. It was the time when I most felt I was stepping out of Marc’s shadow and starting to shine on my own."

The two-time world champion gained greater awareness of his strength and even more self-confidence. The competitiveness he showed in the last World Championship allowed him to make a big step forward in every respect.

In 2026 he initially had some difficulty adapting to the Ducati Desmosedici GP26, but then he started to get the measure of it. He won the race at Jerez, and in Barcelona it looked like he could do the double, but after winning the sprint race, Sunday brought a nasty crash in which he suddenly rear-ended Pedro Acosta. The fellow Spaniard’s KTM cut out and he went down hard: a fractured right collarbone and a marginal fracture of the C7 vertebra. He had to undergo surgery and miss several Grands Prix.

Marquez Jr. recalls what that difficult period was like: "The first week at home was very tough. I spent four days in the hospital trying to recover, and it was really painful. I thought: ‘I don’t want to see anything to do with MotoGP.’ I just wanted to forget all of this for a while. Two and a half weeks after the crash, I was already looking at the calendar and thinking: ‘This is my passion. I want to come back, and I want to come back stronger’."

Racing motorcycles—and being able to do it in a top-tier championship like MotoGP—is a passion that outweighs anything negative. Alex wants to give his all until the moment comes to retire: "I’d like people to say I was a rider who gave everything to this sport. A lot of people see you as a hero or someone special, but I like going home and feeling like a completely normal person."

2026 will be the last year for the Cervera rider with the BK8 Gresini team, which welcomed him in 2023 after some difficult years on the Honda. The Faenza squad’s gamble paid off, but the parties will go their separate ways. Marquez wants to test himself in a factory team, and from 2027 he will ride for KTM.

Today it’s impossible to say whether he made the right choice in embracing the Mattighofen manufacturer’s project, given that next year will bring new technical regulations and a new tire supplier (Pirelli). Alongside him in the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing garage will be Fabio Di Giannantonio, also coming from a Ducati Desmosedici GP26, the one run by the Pertamina Enduro VR46 team. An intriguing pairing.