MotoGP | Alex Marquez: “Grateful to Bagnaia for the apology, but the damage is done”

The two negative protagonists of Sunday at Motorland Aragon were also those of Thursday, which opened the weekend of the Grand Prix of San Marino and the Riviera di Rimini. The incident between Pecco Bagnaia and Alex Marquez caused a lot of discussion on Sunday, especially for the statements that came out of it.

When they were fighting for the third step of the podium, with six laps to go, the Gresini Racing rider went long at Turn 12 and the reigning world champion took advantage of this to try to pass on the outside of Turn 13. The crossing of trajectories generated a contact that sent both of them to the ground, with a rather dangerous dynamic, because the Piedmontese remained under the Gresini Racing GP23.

Fortunately, both got up without too serious consequences, but once he arrived in front of the journalists Bagnaia was very harsh with the Spaniard, accusing him of having deliberately caused the accident and of not having closed the throttle even after the contact. For his part, the youngest of the Marquez, defended himself by saying that the only one who could have avoided the contact was Pecco.

After a private clarification between the two that took place on Sunday evening in the Ducati truck, which was also attended by Gigi Dall’Igna, upon his arrival in Misano Bagnaia immediately apologized for having used too strong words to comment on the incident, acknowledging that there was no will, but reiterating once again that the accident could have been avoided if Alex had behaved differently.

The Cervera rider’s response was calm, because he accepted the apology, but he underlined the discomfort he had suffered in the last four days due to this situation: “It has not been an easy week. I wanted to make it clear that I am very grateful that he apologized for the words he said, or for the way he said them, but the damage has already been done, to me, to the team and to my image, and no one can take that away from me”, he told Spanish journalists after the second press conference of the San Marino and Riviera di Rimini Grand Prix.

In the first press conference, Bagnaia also said that he had already realised on Sunday evening that he had exaggerated, so Alex is also left with the worry of not understanding why it took him so long to apologise and definitively close such a thorny issue.

“When I heard that he started to repent on Sunday, I was surprised. I said to myself: ‘Well, you could have closed it on Monday, especially given the statement you made, and the matter was closed. But he wanted to wait until Thursday, which is respectable. But that’s what I said before: what about the damage of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday? Well, that’s all.'”

When it was pointed out that perhaps in his position as reigning world champion it was not so easy to publicly apologize, Alex continued: “Shouldn’t a champion do it? For me it’s the same, whether I’m champion or not. We are colleagues. It’s true that he is the champion, but he is just another brand mate. I appreciate it a lot, but waiting until Thursday, when you realize it on Sunday and he said it himself, what’s the point? It could have been closed on Monday or Tuesday morning, so the criticism would have ended there.”

In everyone’s mind there is still the eternal dispute between his brother Marc and Valentino Rossi. And one cannot help but think about the fact that Bagnaia is one of the students of the VR46 Riders Academy and that this weekend the race is in Misano. But after Pecco’s apologies, Alex does not seem worried in this sense.

“I arrived at the circuit and they asked me for more photos than ever in Italy, I felt more warmth than ever. There is no need to think too much. As I said, I am grateful for the words he said today and for the fact that he apologized. And that’s it, we have to close the chapter. For me it is completely closed.”

Finally, the Gresini Racing rider also took stock of his physical condition ahead of the weekend: “Two or three days are not enough to recover. On Monday I did three hours of physiotherapy and today another two, but day by day it’s getting better and better. I still don’t feel 100%, but we have tonight to rest and I think my body will improve. The blow was also emotional, but what you hit the ground is what stays”.