Data revelation had Marc Marquez “worried” about Fermin Aldeguer in Austria MotoGP

Austrian Grand Prix winner Marc Marquez admits he was “worried” about Fermin Aldeguer in Sunday’s MotoGP race because of what his data revealed about his tyre preservation.

Factory Ducati rider Marc Marquez won his sixth successive grand prix and ninth of the 2025 season to end his Red Bull Ring drought on Sunday.

But it was far from a walkover from the 32-year-old, who had to chase and then battle Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi for the lead, before coming under late pressure from a charging Fermin Aldeguer on the Gresini Ducati.

Marquez ultimately won out by just over a second to extend his lead in the championship to 142 points.

But at one stage late on, rookie Aldeguer was half a second a lap quicker than Marquez and looked like a serious victory threat.

Marquez admits his studying of Ducati rider data on Saturday revealed Aldeguer’s ability to preserve tyres better than his stablemates, and this concerned him in the grand prix.

“The first time I saw that he was close to us was when I saw someone was arriving but I didn’t know the name,” Marquez told After the Flag.

“And then it’s when I overtook Marco, but I was just controlling Marco.

“When I saw that the group behind was two, three seconds I just forgot to check on the board and then I saw ‘plus 1 somebody’, I didn’t know.

“When I attacked Marco I saw it was Aldguer. Then I started to be a bit worried, because yesterday we analysed the Ducati riders and he was the one that kept the tyre life better.”

Marquez tactically “gave up” at one stage in fight with Bezzecchi

During his battle with Bezzecchi, there was a moment around mid-distance where Marquez dropped back from the Aprilia rider.

He said this was due to him realising he was using too much rear tyre trying to set up a move on Bezzecchi, so elected to “give up” for a few laps in order to preserve his medium compound rubber.

“I mean, the fact that I was all the race behind Marco I understood I was using the rear tyre too much because when you are behind somebody I couldn’t brake as I wanted,” he explained.

“And then I was using more the rear tyre on the exit of the corners.

“For that reason, in the middle of the race I just gave up a bit and breathed.

“And then I attacked again in the last laps.

“But I didn’t expect, we can say, an ‘outsider’ [Aldeguer] who arrived from nowhere with amazing pace.

“Aldeguer was pushing a lot in the end but in those last three laps I was able to manage the distance.”