Marc Marquez: It “doesn’t matter” who I’m fighting against

Marc Marquez began his debut MotoGP season as a factory Ducati rider in a family duel with younger brother Alex at Gresini, the pair finishing first and second in all but one of the opening six races.

The exception was COTA, where Marc crashed out of the lead and Alex finished runner-up to Francesco Bagnaia.

Marc made another mistake at Jerez, settled for second in the Le Mans rain, then salvaged a podium at Silverstone before launching his current 14-race unbeaten run.

Alex was again the main challenger in the early part of that streak, but recent rounds have seen far more variety.

Alex, Marco Bezzecchi, Pedro Acosta, Fabio di Giannantonio and rookie Fermin Aldeguer - five riders, three manufacturers and four bike specs - have each featured as ‘best of the rest’  in the last six races (three rounds).

Marc Marquez insists it makes no difference who he’s fighting.

“I don't care,” he smiled. “In the first part of the championship, I was fighting especially with Alex. We were always there in first-second, second-first, with some mistakes where we lost a lot of points.

“But now, with this [points] advantage, I just try to do my maximum every weekend and it doesn't matter if I'm fighting against di Giannantonio, KTM or Aprilia, like in the last races.”

Hungary was “easiest Sprint of the season”

The Ducati Lenovo star is a massive 175 points clear of Alex heading into this weekend’s Barcelona round, as his march continues towards a first MotoGP crown since 2019.

And while fans may crave closer battles at the front, Marquez is clear about the most efficient way to win.

“It's easier to do your own race. This is something you work for, to increase the advantage against the others,” he said.

“For example, [Hungary] was the easiest Sprint race of the season. Why? Because normally the strongest opponent in the Sprint was my brother Alex, who is super-fast with a new tyre.

“Even in Austria he was pushing me at the beginning, while di Giannantonio [second in Hungary] is more a second-part-of-the-race rider, like me.”

The mix of rivals is also why Marquez compares his 2025 campaign to his final Honda title.

“In 2014 I was winning, winning, winning. This year I'm winning a lot too! But especially 2019, I was always there, but with different opponents.

“Some riders could beat me in a single race, but I was always first, second, second, first. And that is the most important for the championship. Always be in the top three, even at circuits that are weak for you.

“It's true that we will arrive at circuits, and maybe [this weekend in] Catalonia is a weak circuit for me, but I will try to be on the podium. And this is the target, with a different racetrack, different conditions, always be in the top three.”

One rider notably absent from the recent runner-up fight is Bagnaia, who has not finished second to Marquez since Qatar and has missed the rostrum entirely in the last three rounds.

Why has the gap to Bagnaia grown?

“Because I'm in my top confidence and Pecco is in a very deep moment about confidence and feeling,” Marquez said.

“And this mixed with some of my strongest circuits, stop-and-go, while Pecco’s weak circuits are stop-and-go. He's always flowing a lot and using a lot of corner speed.”

Bagnaia returns to a more favourable layout at Barcelona, where he won both races from pole in last year’s season finale.

Marquez, however, was just 1.5s behind on a year-old GP23 in his final Gresini appearance.