Marc Marquez brushes off 2025 MotoGP title delay: ‘Not the day to go all in’

Marc Marquez says the 2025 MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix was not the day to go “all in” to win, even if that meant delaying his first match point in the title chase.

After winning the sprint at Barcelona on Saturday following a crash from the lead for Alex Marquez, Marc Marquez only needed to outscore his younger brother by two points to have a first shot at clinching the world title next weekend at Misano.

But, though he exerted massive pressure on the Gresini rider, Marc Marquez could do nothing to overhaul Alex Marquez and stop him from winning the Catalan Grand Prix.

It means the factory Ducati rider will have to wait until the Japanese Grand Prix at the earliest to get his first title match point.

Marquez says he could have pushed harder on Sunday at Barcelona to try and extend his streak of seven successive grand prix wins, but felt it unnecessary given his championship advantage of 182 points.

“I mean, still seven races to go,” he said.

“In the end, my target is to try to keep the same mentality. Don’t exaggerate, try to control the limits, try to control the bike, try to control all the points.

“Today it’s true maybe I was able to do all in, but it was not time to do it.

“It’s time to keep going, keep the same concentration. I was happy because I said on Thursday that there will be a day where I need to accept that somebody is faster than me.

“And little brother was faster than me this weekend. When you are on the bike you try everything.

“On lap three or four I overtook him on the straight, but just I rolled the gas because the target was to try to open the gap with the third guy and I know that he had better rhythm, he was faster, and just I was using his slipstream to open a gap with the other guys.”

Ducati warned Marquez that Barcelona could be the race he loses

The 32-year-old also noted after the race that Ducati team boss Davide Tardozzi told him that Sunday could be the day he finally has to settle for second.

“I was telling to you since summer break that there will be one day that somebody will be faster than me and I need to accept it,” he added.

“So, that sentence, I keep saying in my head and today Davide Tardozzi told me, he said to me maybe today is the day. Maybe. You will try. You need to try.

“But today on the paper… I tried, you see on Turn 10 I went in and then I had a flashback from [Alex] yesterday.

“I always will try and sometimes you try and you can’t. Today with Alex, last year with Pecco Bagnaia] here, and yesterday I said to Spanish journalists I predicted a race like this: I said I will follow Alex and maybe in the end I will try but he will be faster than me.

“And it was exactly the same race as last year here with Pecco, following him all the race and in the last laps they had a bit more.

“But for me, the most important thing in a championship, is that in a circuit where I’m struggling I was close to the fastest guy.”