His first test on the Ducati changed the career of Álex Márquez

At 29, Álex Márquez finally sees the planets align for him. He has just won his first MotoGP victory and led the world championship, he who has so far asserted himself as the biggest pebble in the shoe of Marc Márquez. Very regular with a series of second places in which only a sixth position in Qatar due to an error and his victory in Jerez, he scored 140 points in five Grands Prix, unheard of.

While he is playing his sixth season in the queen category, the youngest of the Márquez brothers therefore seems to have come to the concretization he was expecting. But to get there, he had to eat his black bread. Even once promoted in MotoGP, he had to deal with the obligation to prove himself to meet the immeasurable expectations that the name Márquez generates, while composing with an extremely rough motorcycle in his first years.

His promotion followed the premature departure of Jorge Lorenzo. The latter had two years of contract to run at REPSOL HONDA, but scalded by the harshness of the RC213V and the injuries suffered during his first season, he chose at the end of 2019 not to go further. It was then that Honda recruited the one who had just won the Moto2 title and turned to a new season in the intermediary category.

The 2020 Honda was not frankly a gift to start. The two podiums of Álex Márquez that year held the miracle. He stayed on the Japanese motorcycle for another two years, this time within the LCR team, with results that have continued to back off and growing malaise. In 2022, the pilot at number 73 did not hide anything from his lack of motivation, so little at ease with his motorcycle that he even planned not to run the following year. It was ultimately by going to convince the Gresini team to hire him that he has revived.

“I remember that in 2022, we were at the Sachsenring, so already mid-season, and everyone had a contract but I did not have one and the teams did not show any interest”, told Álex Márquez after his victory at Jerez. “So I went to Gresini and I just said: ‘I want your motorcycle, the rest doesn’t matter to me. I just want your motorcycle and see what my potential is. Make me do a year and then we’ll see’.”

This poker stroke changed everything, because joining the Gresini team meant to pilot the Ducati and Álex Márquez immediately understood that it would be much less suffering than with the Honda. “Honestly, from my first round with the Ducati, in Valence, I understood that the potential was there and that it was only a matter of time before returning”, he revealed. “It was in Valence in 2022 that I realized that the potential was there and that it was a matter of time to get used to the Ducati before returning.”

A victory as strong as his two titles

The difficulties were not finished however, since after having obtained first podiums in 2023, the Spaniard marked the step last year on the handlebars of a notoriously more rustic spec. Today, passed on a GP24 unanimously estimated at a level equivalent to that of the current factory motorcycle, Álex Márquez sees in the meanders of his past season a wealth of experience he benefits.

“It is true that last year, for me, it was somehow a nightmare at certain times of the season because I could not reach my expectations with this motorcycle, but it was a year during which I learned a lot”, he said. “This is the reason why I am very competitive this year, because I was used to piloting a motorcycle which was a notch below the GP24.”

Proof of the difficulties crossed, the double world champion Moto2 and Moto3 said he planed this victory won in Jerez at the highest level in his personal pantheon. “At the same level as my two titles. Today, it’s at this level”, He replied when he was asked where he placed this success in his career.

“When I passed the last turn, I felt a mixture of emotions, I was both happy and moved. It was really beautiful”, He still described on Sunday. “[Quartararo et Bagnaia] Perhaps have had a easier course to access MotoGP. For me, it was hard for some years. But when you have the right people by your side … It is these people that I thought a lot, like my grandfather and my whole family, and in particular Marc. He is with me every day, he is the one who supports me the most, who gives me the most advice. “