Marc Marquez: Retirement "was close, I had to answer the question”

Marc Marquez is on the verge of achieving something no premier-class rider has ever done before.

In the 76-year history of 500cc/MotoGP, no champion has returned to the top after a gap of more than three title defeats.

The record is currently held by Casey Stoner, who won titles in 2007 (Ducati) and 2011 (Honda).

Marquez has not only suffered five successive title defeats since his most recent 2019 title, but has had to overcome the mental and physical trauma of gruelling injuries and uncompetitive machinery.

“Two years ago, I could not imagine that I would be in this form,” Marc Marquez admitted in a video feature for MotoGP.com.

“I'm here because I'm enjoying. The way that I'm enjoying, is winning.

“And now we are winning a lot, so for that reason, I feel relaxed, with a lot of confidence.

“But I know, because I had experience, that from one day to the other, can change everything.”

“The hardest moment”

Marquez’s dream premier-class career - six titles in seven years - unravelled not so much with an arm-breaking accident at Jerez 2020, but the decision to attempt an early the following weekend.

“I was coming from four championships in a row and you feel unbeatable. Like nothing can happen,” Marquez reflected.

“The biggest mistake was coming back too early. But why did I come back? With that extra confidence I had in that moment, I felt like nothing can happen.”

The stress of the early return damaged the plate previously inserted to stabilise the bones. The arm also became infected, causing more surgery.

Marquez missed the remainder of 2020 and the start of 2021.

But the injury was far from behind him.

“The hardest moment arrived when I came back in ‘21. And I started riding again, and I didn't feel good,” he said.

“My body was strange. I was not riding well. I felt my arm in a strange way. Then we realised that it was a rotation in my arm.

“I would insist, there is something [wrong]. I feel like my arm is in one position, and it's another one.

“The feeling was a lot of pain all the day, and that was the hardest moment. It was like no motivation to continue.”

"Why don't we stop?"

Marquez also had to deal with two further episodes of diplopia alongside the series of arm surgeries, culminating in a mid-2022 operation in the USA to correct the arm rotation.

But he remained winless throughout 2023, with his career reaching a fork in the road.

“It was close,” Marquez replied, when asked about retirement thoughts. “There was the question, why don't we stop?

“But I had something inside that said, I want to answer the question, if I'm competitive. And to answer that question meant trying to find the best bike on the grid, which was a Ducati, and that was my target.

“I just forgot the relationships, the money, the history. I said, okay, I want to just answer that question.

“I had a good comments from my brother [about the Ducati]. That helps. And Alex helped me a lot to make the decision.”

Marquez later joked that Alex, now his latest remaining mathematical title rival heading into Japan this weekend, regrets that decision.

“Without me now, he will lead the championship!” Marc said.

“There were some Monday mornings this season, when we are having breakfast at home and he had finished second, that he was saying to me; ‘Why did I give you that advice?!’”

But it didn’t look so clear-cut at the time.

“I said, only one year [with Gresini], let's see if I'm competitive. If that year with Gresini, I was not competitive, I'm sure that my career ends,” Marc said.

“To leave Honda for a very good team that was Gresini, but ride for free, just to prove to myself that I was able to be competitive was a very big challenge where I risked a lot of things.”

Riding a year-old GP23, a tricky bike that Marc’s fellow satellite riders struggled with, it took until the second half of last season to claim his first Ducati win.

But the factory had already seen enough to choose him over title leader Jorge Martin for the 2025 seat alongside Francesco Bagnaia at the official team.

“I knew that I was in the perfect place to fight for the championship,” Marc said of the Ducati Lenovo move.

“I was preparing my season with one target, which was to try to fight for the championship. But of course, the way we are fighting for the championship is something nobody can predict.

“Winning a lot of races, winning at circuits that normally I struggle, it is something unusual and difficult to repeat.”

"I said Bagnaia was the favourite"

Marc has dominated the season, winning 11 of the 16 Grands Prix so far and 14 Sprints.

Meanwhile, double champion Bagnaia has rarely been able to offer a challenge on the GP25.

“I was saying at the team presentation that [Bagnaia] was the favourite for the championship because the last four years he was super competitive,” Marquez said.

“The problem is that when you start to lose confidence, you are riding stiffer than ever. Then the bike is not turning because you are not playing with the body. But

“I believe that Pecco will come back. He has the talent, he has the team. If we want the best for the project, we need both riders at the top.”

"Impossible to try more"

But 2025 is all about Marc Marquez, the rider who risked it all to return to the top.

“If you try, it doesn't mean that you will achieve. But it's already a success. Because if you don't try, then you don't know.

“When I retire someday, I know that to try more than I have was impossible.”

Marc Marquez needs to outscore Alex by three points over the Motegi weekend to be crowned champion with five rounds still to go.