How Alex Marquez beat Marc at his own game at the Catalan GP

For a major part of the season, Alex Marquez developed a reputation for finishing second to his more successful brother Marc Marquez. But with 15 of the 22 rounds complete, there is another interesting feat that must be highlighted: Alex Marquez remains the only rider to defeat the six-time champion in a straight fight for first place. 

The older Marquez crashed out of the US and Spanish Grands Prix, got the strategy wrong in a rain-hit French GP and was simply off the pace at the British GP. So, the only races where he lost a direct duel with a rival were the Silverstone sprint and the Catalan GP, both won by his younger brother Alex.

While Alex’s triumph in the Silverstone sprint was impressive, defeating ‘Marc Marquez 2.0’ at Barcelona was even more remarkable. Since Ducati’s Aragon test upgrades, Marc had been virtually unbeatable, combining the peak speed that defined the early season with a newfound consistency that made crashes increasingly rare.

But Alex Marquez pulled something special out of the bag in Barcelona, defeating Marc at his own game.

It would be wrong to discuss Alex’s weekend without mentioning his record-breaking lap in qualifying, which put him more than a quarter of a second clear of his nearest rival. This is the kind of performance one expects from Marc and Francesco Bagnaia when they are riding at their peak, and it put the 29-year-old on the front foot on Sunday.

When the five lights went out, Alex Marquez got the best launch from pole, but Marc braked later than him and managed to put himself immediately in the lead.

Alex Marquez quickly fought back against his brother to regain the lead in the opening laps of the Catalan GP

Photo by: Lluis Gene / AFP via Getty Images

Alex knew that it would be a bad idea to let Marc run away at the front and ramped up the pressure on him, finally finding a way past at Turn 1 on lap 4.

This was when Alex decided to take a leaf out of Marc’s notebook and began to control the pace, ensuring he had enough life left in his tyres for the final stages of the race. Even Bagnaia, running lower in the top 10, was lapping faster at this stage.

Lap time comparison

A couple of quick laps followed, culminating in a 1m39.886s effort on the seventh tour. This gave Alex the buffer he needed, while also showing Marc that his brother was just as quick in the race as he had been in qualifying.

For the next phase of the race, the gap between the Marquez brothers continued to ebb and flow, with the KTMs of Pedro Acosta and Enea Bastianini following them in third and fourth respectively.

Bastianini’s brilliant pass on Acosta on lap 11 suggested that he could give the Marquez riders a run for their money, but he lost too much time overtaking his stablemate and was never really able to recoup that deficit.

Alex Marquez controlled his tyres - and the race - in Marc's trademark style

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

As the race drew to a close, there was a growing concern that Marc would be able to unleash his typical late-race speed and snatch yet another win from Alex’s grasp. And to be fair to him, he did try his best, mounting a last-ditch attack to bring the gap down to just two tenths of a second.

But Alex responded brilliantly on lap 20, taking half a second out of his brother and extending his advantage back to 0.8s. He continued to pull away from the 32-year-old, even as their pace dropped due to tyre wear, eventually taking the chequered flag by 1.7s.

This was just Alex’s second grand prix win of his career, following on from his previous success in the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez.

Crucially, Alex looked calm and composed throughout the race and, while Marc had wild moments at both Turn 7 and 10, kept the bike between the white lines with relative ease.

In many ways, Alex’s performance mirrored what MotoGP fans had come to expect from Marc. The older Marquez sibling had rarely been challenged in the first half of the season, but if he had been, this is likely how he would have fared: composed, maintaining a strong pace up front, and keeping his rivals on the knife edge.

Coincidentally, Alex Marquez also had a very Marc-style crash from the lead of the sprint before he finally captured glory on Sunday. The incident in the sprint taught him to remain focused and deliver under pressure when it mattered the most. Alex himself admitted that the self-inflicted crash served as an important lesson, teaching him how there is no margin for error while battling with Marc.

The younger Marquez also recovered from a sprint race crash while leading on Saturday

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

But it’s important to note that the Marquez brothers have had a contrasting track record at Barcelona. The 4.6km circuit was the venue of Alex’s second grand prix win in Moto3 back in 2014, and he was also victorious in the Catalan race in the Moto2 class in 2017 and 2019.

For Marc, however, it has been something of a bogey track where he has had only limited success relative to his usual high standards. As such, he was mentally prepared for a defeat in Barcelona.

With neither Bagnaia nor Aprilia in the picture, the Marquez brothers were left to duel at the front

But if history alone was going to decide the winner, a number of other riders should have been in the mix as well. Bagnaia won both races in Barcelona last year, while Aprilia has also been something of a dark horse in the Catalan GP over the years. However, as reigning champion Jorge Martin explained, Aprilia’s historic advantage in Barcelona has been wiped out by recent changes to the RS-GP aimed at making the bike more versatile, leaving the Noale marque out of the running. 

With neither Bagnaia nor Aprilia in the picture, the Marquez brothers were left to duel at the front, and Alex was simply the better of the two.

Marc was mentally prepared to lose to Alex - and celebrate a family 1-2 on home ground

Photo by: David Ramirez / Soccrates / Getty Images