Marc Marquez explains “same mentality” at Assen, “it’s not a racetrack that I like”

With only two premier class wins at Assen, Marc Marquez classes the Dutch circuit alongside Mugello and Lusail as ones where he needs to “try to defend, try to not lose a lot of points”.

The Ducati Lenovo Team rider was last on the podium at Assen in 2019, when he finished second to Maverick Vinales.

His latest victory in the Dutch TT came in 2018, with his only other MotoGP win there coming back in 2014 when it was a part of his 10-race win streak to open that particular season.

The 2024 edition of the Dutch TT was a particularly difficult one for Marquez, who crashed out of the Sprint and struggled with both feeling and front tyre pressure in the main race.

As a result, the rider who will lead the World Championship by the end of Sunday no matter what happens this weekend, thanks to his 40-point lead, is approaching this weekend’s 10th round of the 2025 season with some caution.

“Assen is a racetrack where some years I have been super-fast, some years I was struggling more,” Marc Marquez told MotoGP.com ahead of this weekend’s Dutch TT.

“In my personal calendar, it’s a racetrack with the same mentality as Mugello: try to defend, try to not lose a lot of points; but being optimistic.

“In Mugello, I was optimistic from Thursday – it means that I will try everything, but realistic. Realistic means that normally, theoretically, it’s not a racetrack that I like or I take the maximum points in the past.”

Marc Marquez vows 'same mentality here'

The 32-year-old added that his successes this year in both Qatar and Italy were brought about due to his relaxed mindset.

“Qatar and Mugello have been unexpected victories and unexpected weekends because I achieved the 37 points, and it was not in my predictions,” he said.

“The fact that I have been realistic and calm during all the weekend – I think it helps me.

“So, I will try to keep the same mentality here in Assen because I know that Pecco [Francesco Bagnaia] and Alex [Marquez] will be very fast and maybe Di Giannantonio normally here is very fast.”

Marquez clarified that he is sure that Alex Marquez is his closest rival at the moment, thanks to his sibling’s position in the World Championship.

“My main opponent is the second rider in the championship that is Alex,” he said.

“He’s in very good form, he’s riding very fast. I’m pushing, but always he’s there so he’s doing an amazing season, so my main opponent is Alex.

“Second main opponent is Pecco because he’s third in the championship, but already we have some nice gap in points so we need to manage and to accept if, for example, Pecco or Alex, or another rider, is faster than us in Assen.

“At the same time, we are not [at the moment] to already think about or manage the points, but during the weekend you need to think about what you can do.”

Marc Marquez: “In the last races, we did a step”

Finally, the Spanish rider, who took his 100th pole position and 93rd grand prix victory at Mugello last weekend, suggested that progress he has made in recent races, as well as core differences between this year’s factory Desmosedici and the satellite GP23 he rode last year, mean he is not necessarily set to struggle at Assen this year in the same way he did in 2024.

“Last year I struggled, I struggled a lot during all the weekend,” he said.

“I crashed in the Sprint race; in the main race, okay I had the issue with the pressure, but the feeling was not the perfect one.

“Let’s see, because now we are riding a Ducati but a different Ducati with a different bike balance.

“In the last races, we did a step, in Mugello we did a step, so let’s see here. In FP1, you understand immediately where you are and where are the opponents.”