Why Marc Marquez kept reminding himself his MotoGP winning run would end

Marc Marquez has revealed he had been preparing himself mentally for the moment his winning streak would come to an end in MotoGP.

The factory Ducati rider’s reign of nearly 100 days in MotoGP ended in the Catalan Grand Prix on Sunday, as he finished 1.7s behind his younger brother Alex Marquez.

Marc Marquez had gone on an incredible run in the summer following a lacklustre outing at Silverstone in May, scoring double victories over the following seven rounds in Europe.

Alex Marquez’s crash from the lead of the Barcelona sprint race extended that unbeaten stretch to 15 races, evoking memories of his dominant Honda days from 2019. But the older Marquez had nothing left in his armour to challenge his Gresini rival on Sunday.

Speaking at the post-race press conference, the six-time MotoGP champion said he had been reminding himself that defeat was inevitable at some point, with Ducati team boss Davide Tardozzi also warning him about the possibility on Sunday morning.

“I was telling you [the media] since Austria or since the summer break that there will be one day that somebody will be faster than me, and I will need to accept that,” he said. “So I kept saying that sentence in my head.

“Today, Davide Tardozzi told me, ‘maybe today is the day [your streak will come to an end]. You will try, you need to try [but it is possible]’. I tried. You see at Turn 10, I went in [and had a big moment]. And then I had a flashback of Alex from Saturday. 

Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing, Marc Marquez, Ducati Team

Photo by: Josep Lago / AFP via Getty Images

“I will always try, but sometimes you try and you can't. Today with Alex, last year with Pecco [Bagnaia in the Solidarity GP].

“But for me, the most important [thing] for a championship is, at a track where I'm struggling, I'm close to the fastest guys.”

Marc Marquez said he knew beating his brother would be difficult in the Catalan GP thanks to the latter’s impressive track record in Barcelona.

“I already expect on Thursday that Alex will be the rider to beat,” he said. “He is second in the championship and he is riding in a very good way – especially here in Catalunya: he won in Moto3, he won two times in Moto2 and now he won in MotoGP. 

“I tried everything, I was on the limit in the last laps. More or less five laps [from the finish], I made a mistake on Turn 7, another mistake at Turn 10, and I gave up. It's true that Alex was faster than us today.”

Alex Marquez’s victory on Sunday brought the gap down to 182 points, keeping the championship fight open until at least the Japanese GP at the end of the month.

Had the gap grown to 185 points, Marc Marquez would have had his first opportunity to win the title in this weekend’s San Marino GP at Misano.

Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing, Marc Marquez, Ducati Team

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

"Still seven races to go,” he said. "My target is to try to keep the same mentality. Don’t exaggerate, try to control the limits, try to control the bike, try to control all the points.

“Today, it’s true that maybe I was able to go all in, but it was not time to do it.

“It’s time to keep going, keep the same concentration. I was happy because I said on Thursday that there will be a day where I need to accept that somebody is faster than me, and little brother was faster than me this weekend."