Marc Marquez explains San Marino MotoGP Sprint crash: “Nobody is perfect”

Marc Marquez had led the San Marino MotoGP Sprint for only nine corners when he crashed out at turn 15 on the sixth lap of 13, handing victory to Marco Bezzecchi, but it was a mistake that the championship leader was able to take in his stride.

Marquez tailed Bezzecchi in the early laps, having climbed from fourth to second at the start of the race.

A mistake from Bezzecchi at turn four on lap six brought Marquez close enough to launch a surprise attack at turn six, to which it looked like Bezzecchi would be unable to respond.

But nine corners later Marquez was down, suddenly certain to miss the podium of a Sprint for the first time in 2025 and to lose his six-Sprint win streak.

The crash was “typical” of the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, he explained.

“I forced too much, I went a bit wide on that turn 15, and a typical crash of Misano,” Marc Marquez said after the San Marino Sprint.

“Nobody is perfect,” he added.

“In the end, I take a lot of risks during the Sprints this season and it’s been a success every time. Since Austria last year I was not doing any mistakes in the Sprints. 

“It can happen, and today was the day; I did the most difficult thing that was to lead the race, but maybe I didn’t take care about that the tyre temperature was [still too hot], because just a few corners ago I overtook Bezzecchi.”

It was not a crash that Marquez seemed especially affected by.

“It’s a part of racing,” the Ducati Lenovo Team rider said.

“For me, the most important, and I always keep the same sentence, it’s true that it’s not good to crash, but if you crash leading the race then you have the speed.”

Marquez reaffirmed that, anyway, his focus on clinching the 2025 MotoGP World Championship, in which he still has a 173-point lead.

“But I’m relaxed,” he said.

“Still [173] points. People are always talking about ‘When will you close the championship?’ I will try to close as soon as possible, but the most important is to take it.”

Bezzecchi “the fastest” for Sunday

Looking to Sunday, Marquez put the ball in the court of Bezzecchi to go and take the win.

If he were to do so, Bezzecchi would be the first non-Ducati rider to take multiple wins in a season since Aleix Espargaro in the 2023 season, also on an Aprilia.

Espargaro was also the last non-Ducati rider to win a Sprint before Bezzecchi’s Misano triumph, the Catalan having won his home Sprint in 2024.

But Marquez is sure that Bezzecchi is the rider with the advantage on Sunday.

“I think tomorrow Bez [Marco Bezzecchi] is the fastest rider out there,” Marquez said.

“He has a very good pace, especially because the medium [compound] rear tyre didn’t drop, so he will be very fast. 

“But, in the end, I need to understand also– it’s not easy but I need to understand that he’s not the main opponent for the championship.”

Marquez, in any case, feels that he will benefit from the change in rear tyre compound on Sunday.

“So, with the soft [compound rear tyre] I’m struggling a little bit because it’s pushing the front,” he explained.

“In fact, in qualifying I was struggling on that point. 

“With the medium, overall I feel better and more stable.”