Are Aprilia riders making it too easy for Marquez to win the 2026 MotoGP title?

That Marc Marquez was going to chip away at Aprilia’s advantage in the 2026 MotoGP standings was always a given. Following back-to-back victories at Balaton Park and Brno in June, it was a question of when - not if - the Ducati rider would be able to overcome a deficit that once stood at 102 points.

But even Marquez’s biggest fans would be surprised by how quickly he has managed to draw level with Jorge Martin in the championship. It took him just seven events, from Hungary to San Marino, to turn around his fortunes and become the new favourite for the title. Even after factoring in his lows at Assen and Silverstone, Marquez’s form is becoming increasingly reminiscent of his 2025 peak, all while he is functioning with ‘one-and-a-half’ arm.

After the Spaniard romped to his fifth grand prix win - and fourth double success - at Misano, MotoGP shared a graphic on live television, showing how he has scored nearly twice as many points as his rivals. However, that did not illustrate the complete picture, as it omitted what happened in the previous seven races.

Comparing how MotoGP’s top stars fared in the first seven races of the year (Buriram to Mugello) and the following seven (Balaton Park to Misano), it’s clear that Marquez and Marco Bezzecchi scored virtually the same points in their respective periods at the bottom. Both also missed the same number of races due to injury (two grands prix, one sprint), making the comparison more meaningful.

Based on that data, it’s fair to conclude Marquez is ahead of Bezzecchi because he has scored more points in his current purple patch than Bezzecchi did when he was MotoGP’s top dog early in the year. Or, to put it another way, Bezzecchi did not capitalise on his early advantage enough, largely due to his sprint errors, when Marquez was struggling with the nerve problems stemming from his Mandalika 2025 crash.

Marco Bezzecchi's crash out of the San Marino GP felt all-too familiar as he once again handed a golden opportunity to his rivals

Photo by: Getty Images

But as always, there is still more to this story. If the championship is being won by the respective rider’s highs rather than their lows, how has Marquez managed to score so many wins in such a short span of time?

This is where the picture gets complicated. On some weekends, Marquez was genuinely a cut above the rest. Think Balaton Park or the Sachsenring. But at the same time, there were weekends where Aprilia’s challenge fell short. Consider Aragon for starters. If Pedro Acosta could have pushed Marquez to the limit on a KTM, one has to wonder how a fit Bezzecchi or a peak Martin would have fared against him on a superior RS-GP.

Brno, too, springs to mind. Ai Ogura was still finding his feet at that stage after finally overcoming his qualifying struggles to take pole position. Yet, he managed to finish within four tenths of Marquez after a late attack. Where were the two factory riders in this case? Bezzecchi was banned after striking a marshal in the sprint, while Martin languished in ninth after serving a double long penalty for the crash he triggered at the previous round in Hungary.

With Qatar set to be cancelled, the season is set to run for 21 rounds, neatly divided into three equal parts comprising seven races each

It’s almost shocking when one realises that the factory Aprilia team hasn’t won a Sunday race since Bezzecchi’s Italian GP success in May (Trackhouse riders won at the Czech and British GPs). That's a four-month winless streak bang in the middle of the season.

But the works squad isn’t the only one making life easy for Marquez. Ogura made his first big mistake of the season at Silverstone and then suffered an unfortunate injury while training in Japan. Aprilia also couldn’t fall back on Raul Fernandez last weekend when Bezzecchi crashed and Martin developed arm pump.

Of course, there are far too many individual incidents to list. We haven’t even got to Bezzecchi’s fitness or the fact that Marquez would have been willing to settle for second at Misano if Martin didn’t drop the order due to arm pump. But it’s fair to conclude that Marquez wasn’t exaggerating on Sunday when he said his rivals had gifted him a “present” in the title race. 

Martin's form has also dipped of late

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images

However, he also failed to credit himself for capitalising on every single opportunity handed to him and being smarter than his rivals. Take his race starts, for example. Bezzecchi knew Marquez would come at him in Saturday’s Misano sprint after what happened in the Aragon double header, and yet Marquez still managed to pull off the move.

With Qatar set to be cancelled, the season is set to run for 21 rounds, neatly divided into three equal parts comprising seven races each. The contrast between the first seven and the next seven could hardly be starker. The final stretch mostly comprises the Asia/Pacific leg, and features certain races like Indonesia where Marquez is expected to struggle. Aprilia also tends to perform better at flyaway races, while Acosta too could join the fight at some of those events. Martin’s arm pump, if it persists, could also throw in another variable in the fight.

So, will the championship be ultimately won by who produces the most dominant peaks, or the one who cedes the fewest points when they are at their lowest? And can Aprilia’s riders finally find the consistency to perform at their best when the pressure is highest? 

Ultimately, even if the Aprilia riders start firing on all cylinders, beating the current version of Marquez will prove to be a tough challenge. But they have already made his task considerably easier by failing to make the most of their own opportunities.

Marquez heads into the final third of the season as the clear favourite, but the Asia-Pacific leg could throw some surprises

Photo by: Andreas Solaro / AFP via Getty Images