Alex Marquez admits: Marc Marquez told me 'If I don’t enjoy it, I will retire’

Alex Marquez was told by Marc Marquez that he’ll retire if he doesn’t enjoy his first year at Gresini Ducati.

16 Oct 2023

Marc Marquez, Tissot Sprint race, MotoGP, Indonesian MotoGP, 14 October

The Marquez brothers will be reunited at the Ducati satellite team in 2024, after Marc confirmed his intention to quit Honda.

The stakes for Marc have now risen after his brother’s revelation about their private conversation.

Asked if Marc can be tempted to stay longer than his initial one-year deal, Alex replied to TNT Sports: “We’ll see. The sense to have just one year is to see if he enjoys this world again.

“He is really clever to me. He said: ‘If I don’t enjoy it, I will retire’. It’s like this. It’s a possibility.

“He wants to see if he can enjoy it again. If he can be fast again after his injury.

“I have no doubt but he has his doubts. He has reasons to have [doubts] because I had them when I was on the Honda bike last year.

“I’m sure in Valencia he will enjoy it again - what’s in his head will disappear really fast.”

Alex, who quit LCR Honda to join Gresini Ducati a year ago, was asked if he influenced his brother’s decision: “No. Like he said, he was changing his mind, his idea, every day.

“I said one day: ‘You are changing a lot, I will give my opinion as a brother, not as a Gresini Ducati rider’.

“He needs to change, to recover the feeling, the passion. I saw him on the Motegi podium, not happy as Marc normally is.

“He will go to a small team - that doesn’t mean we’re not professional - but it’s a small family, always together. This can help Marc to enjoy it again on the bike and on the track.”

So, what can Marc Marquez expect from a year-old Ducati?

“A really good engine, for sure, is what he can expect,” Alex said.

“A bike that can give you a lot of feeling. He rode the same bike for 11 years so he will have to change a lot of things.

“I changed, and I was just three years with [the Honda], so imagine 11. He is fast adapting to things. He won’t have any problems and he will be fast.”

Alex insisted that his brother will now have the machinery to prove that he is MotoGP’s greatest rider.

“Yes, it looks like. For some years he didn’t show it because he was in a difficult situation. But next year he will have the opportunity to show it again.”