Marquez admits he 'doesn't have the pace to fight for MotoGP title' after Spanish GP crash

Marc Marquez has made his strongest statement yet about his 2026 championship prospects, declaring after his Spanish Grand Prix crash that he is currently too slow to defend his MotoGP crown.

The lead factory Ducati rider was quick to underline that he was referring to his personal performance, not that of the Italian manufacturer. His brother Alex won the race on the independent Gresini Ducati GP26, breaking Aprilia's MotoGP winning streak after five races.

"I’m the first to try and look at things optimistically, but at the same time, realistically," he said. "At the moment, we’re not riding at our best, nor do we have the pace - I mean, my pace - to fight for the world championship."

While Marc has won two MotoGP sprints this season, including the Jerez edition on Saturday, he has been unable to win a grand prix since the San Marino GP in September last year. While that poor run has partly been due to injury, he declared himself fully fit ahead of this weekend - and he is aware that crashing out on Sundays is unacceptable under the circumstances. 

"If you’re not on the podium on Sundays, it’s very difficult. But we’ll try to improve bit by bit and rediscover that feeling," he added.

Marco Bezzecchi showed exactly the value of accumulating podiums, bagging a solid second to stretch his points advantage despite failing to win for the first time this year. Meanwhile, Marc comes away from Andalucia fifth in the points standings, 44 points behind the Italian.

Marc Marquez, Ducati Team

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

Speaking about the high-speed accident, his second in as many years whilst following his brother at the Spanish GP, Marquez was philosophical. 

"Well, sometimes you crash, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. And today it was our turn to crash," he said.

"The important thing is that we enjoyed the weekend at Jerez; I’ve had a good time riding the bike. It’s a shame we only managed a few laps today, but I’m fine. Tomorrow is Monday and life goes on."
 
Typically, he wanted nothing to do with the potential excuse of an inopportune gust of wind as he went through the quick Criville right-hander. 

"If there’s a crosswind, it affects everyone," he said, before explaining that his main priority upon falling was making sure he was well away from a bike that ended up cartwheeling multiple times. 

"It’s true that the bike closed up in front of me, and I didn’t even try to save the crash," the Spaniard continued. "At that point, if you hit the gravel right on top of the bike, well, you saw how the bike ended up… When I saw it closing up on me, I simply positioned myself to enter the gravel properly. 

"A shame, because I couldn’t quite get to grips with the race pace we had either. Although [Alex] was unbeatable today. But we set out determined to fight for third or fourth place; that’s where we would have been heading.”