Marc Marquez “breathing more than normal” in early Italian MotoGP battle

Ducati’s Marc Marquez admits he was “breathing more than normal” during the early lead battle at the MotoGP Italian Grand Prix as he remembered his Jerez crash in a similar situation.

The 32-year-old converted pole to a 93rd career victory on Sunday at Mugello to extend his championship lead to 40 points.

He engaged in an early battle with team-mate Pecco Bagnaia and Gresini’s Alex Marquez in the opening seven laps of the grand prix, before eventually taking the lead on the ninth tour.

Marc Marquez admits during the early laps he had to remind himself not push too hard like he did at the Spanish Grand Prix, where he crashed while in contention for victory.

“I was breathing more than normal because already in Jerez I crashed in the second, third lap,” he told MotoGP’s After the Flag.

“So, today I was just repeating in my mind that ‘the race is super long’.

“And like this, I tried to be inside the battle because my target was to lead the race, but at the same time I tried to manage the tyres.

“So, I saw that Pecco was pushing the tyres a lot and then I said ‘ok, let’s see what I can do’.

“But then I saw Alex overtook us, then I already understood that Alex had another pace.

“Then I jumped behind him and I just waited for that middle part of the race when I started to feel better.”

He added: “I mean I was just trying to be on that 1m47s lows, some 1m46s but it was too risky.

“But I saw  that the gap was increasing and then I tried to manage the situation. Then when I took those 1.5s, 2s, I just managed the race.”

Victory on Sunday at the Italian Grand Prix marked the factory Ducati’s rider’s first at Mugello since 2014.

It is twice now this year that Marquez has won at venues considered to be weaker for him, following victory in Qatar in April.

Asked how he compared both, he said: “I rate this weekend as Qatar - an unexpected victory.

“It’s that kind of track where normally I need to defend, but I was able to attack and take even more points against Alex, who is the main opponent at the moment because he’s super constant and super-fast, and has very strong points, especially on those fast right corners.”