MotoGP | Marquez: “It doesn’t matter the color, I want an official bike”

In Marc Marquez’s short (until now) history with Ducati, the French Grand Prix was the closest he came to triumph. Sunday’s race left people in suspense until the checkered flag and exhilarated the public with a battle between Jorge Martin, Pecco Bagnaia and the eight-time world champion which only ended at the finish line. The winner was the world championship leader, with standard bearer Gresini managing to put the wheels of his Ducati in front of those of the reigning world champion.

A great way to celebrate the 1000th race for the Gresini team. Marquez knows this well, as he waved the flag celebrating this milestone on the podium. As in the Sprint, the Catalan made an incredible start. Starting from 13th place, he managed to move into the leading positions almost immediately, climbing the rankings until reaching the Bagnaia-Martin pair, on paper the only one to have an uncatchable pace for everyone.

“The race was short, I didn’t think I’d finish second,” revealed Marquez at the end of the French Grand Prix. “I had a good start, although not as good as yesterday. I recovered several positions and forced myself to stay calm. But it’s the pace that makes the race, you can start off strong, but if you don’t have the pace then it’s of little use.”

Instead, Marquez demonstrated not only that he is phenomenal at starts, but also that he has the pace to be able to battle with the fittest at the moment: “When I saw that I was third I thought we had come this far! Then I realized I had rhythm. But I arrived exhausted and had to risk a lot. This is why I waited for the last lap, I was waiting for Pecco to attack, but seeing that he wasn’t attacking, I attacked”.

Of the three, Bagnaia seemed to be the rider most in difficulty in the final stages of the race, so much so that his struggle to attack Martin led Marquez to break the hesitation and launch the attack: “The important thing is that we were able to fight with the two Ducati references. But to fight for the World Championship you have to do what Martin and Pecco do. To fight with these drivers you have to be perfect in all areas. The two of them don’t do anything wrong, they always start from the front row… Of this group, I’m the one who has the most ups and downs.”

Marc Marquez placed himself between the two GP24s in a sumptuous race in which he finally felt truly at ease aboard the Ducati. However, the eight-time world champion, who has the GP23 at his disposal, is demonstrating that he wants to level up in technical terms from next year. The goal for 2025 is to have an updated bike, in short a factory one, with which we can return to fighting for the title: “When I made this decision, I knew that the Ducati was the strongest bike”.

“I decided to race with the strongest bike and see what I was capable of doing, because I also had doubts as to whether I was finished or not. No, I’m competitive. Since I am, clearly next year I want to try to have the latest evolution, any bike, any color and any brand. Because you have more opportunities to fight for the world championship. But I have clear ideas”, concludes Marc, who occupies third place in the championship, only behind the leader Martin and Bagnaia .