Alex Marquez: “I have some possibilities to fight with Marc” at Italian MotoGP

Alex Marquez says he thought victory in the Italian MotoGP Sprint was possible when he saw Marc Marquez struggle to get off the line from pole position.

The factory Ducati rider failed to correctly engage all of the start systems as he rolled up to the grid on the warm-up lap before the MotoGP Sprint at Mugello, leading him drop back off the start as he tried to get the systems engaged moments before the lights went out.

Alex Marquez, starting from the back of the front row, saw Marc Marquez’s start line issues and sensed an opportunity, but was surprised by the start of lap two to see the Ducati Lenovo Team Desmosedici moving to his outside on the run to the first turn.

“Really similar to what happened in Aragon,” Alex Marquez told MotoGP.com after the Italian Sprint.

“I saw him having problems on the start so in that moment I activated and said ‘Okay, I need to try it,’ because I know that here I have some possibilities to fight with Marc [Marquez], but he was really clever, he was in attack mode, and when I tried to attack Pecco [Francesco Bagnaia] I saw that he was already there.

“I said ‘How did he do it?’

“I gave my 100 per cent. Later on when I was there in the attack position I did a mistake in turn five where I nearly high-sided. In that point, I decided to control a little bit, especially because the front tyre was getting hotter and hotter.

“So, I decided to finish, to control there; to give my 100 per cent to see if Marc had some drop and [gave] some possibility to be there at the end of the race, but he was keeping the pace.

“We need to keep focused for tomorrow, we need to analyse the tyre choice, and luckily I’m fast with the medium and the soft [rear tyres] so we need to be intelligent also tomorrow.”

On tyre choice for Sunday, he added: “It will depend also how will be your strategy for the race – pushing in the beginning, or waiting a little bit more.

“So, we will try our best, we will try to manage, and try to make the right choice.”

Marquez said that his strategy for the Sprint was to lead from the start to protect the front tyre, but he was out-done by the speed and intelligence of his brother.

“It’s what I tried today: to lead the race and to save a little bit my front tyre,” the Gresini Racing rider said.

“But I was not able to do it because Marc was faster and smarter, especially.”

Looking to Sunday’s grand prix, Marquez said that it would be necessary to ride more within the limits for the full-distance race.

“I should control a little bit more the limits that today I was pushing a little bit too much with these hot conditions – I took a lot of risks,” he said.

“So, I need to control a little bit there, but I’m happy with the race that we did today and we need to keep continuing and pushing tomorrow.”