Alex Marquez explains why Marc Marquez is “so difficult to beat” in MotoGP

Nobody knows Marc Marquez’s strengths and weaknesses better than his younger brother Alex, who completed a historic MotoGP family one-two behind the #93 this season.

Although Marc dominated during his debut season at the factory Ducati team, Alex was consistently best of the rest and managed to land some significant blows along the way.

The Gresini rider, on last year’s GP24, finished runner-up for the opening seven races in a row, six of them behind his brother, before becoming the first rider to win a MotoGP race that Marc also finished, at Jerez.

That victory came after an early mistake from Marc, but Alex beat him fair and square in the Silverstone Sprint.

Marc then unleashed a 14-race winning streak to destroy any doubts about winning his first title since 2019. That run was finally broken by Alex, in Catalunya.

Marc was crowned mathematical champion at Motegi, then suffered a shoulder injury at Mandalika, which will keep him from the racetrack until 2026.

Meanwhile, Alex clinched second in the championship in last Saturday’s Sepang Sprint before celebrating with a third grand prix victory of the season the following day.

“If you look at his numbers, Marc seems practically unbeatable - although in sport no one is truly unbeatable because everything can change from one day to the next,” Alex Marquez said at an Estrella-Galicia event.

“There are many factors that can influence things, so no one is unreachable, even if they’re very hard to beat.

“I’ve always said it: a Marc with the right tools is extremely difficult to defeat over 22 races.

“You might beat him on specific occasions, but being better than him overall is very hard because his main strength is that he’s such a complete rider - he always pushes you to the limit.”

“That’s why I think it’s so difficult to beat Marc”

Alex admitted that to try and match his brother’s relentless pace, he had to start taking bigger risks.

“At the start of the season, I wasn’t crashing in practice, but after about five races I started to crash in practice sessions because I realised it was the only way to find the limit and really challenge Marc," Alex explained.

“However, the crashes I was having - he was saving them. 

"In the end, you must ride so close to the limit that you end up crashing, but it’s the only way to be ready for Sunday and to understand the boundaries he can so easily manage.

“That’s why I think it’s so difficult to beat Marc.

"There are two ways to react"

“Even so, the stronger your rivals are, the more they push you to improve," Alex continued.

“And there are two ways to react to that: You can be jealous and think, ‘Well, he’s good, but not that good - I’ll beat him eventually,’ or you can focus on how he does things.

“I believe it’s the latter that makes you a better rider - not necessarily in the next race, but in the long run.”

While Marc was in a class of his own, Alex admitted he didn’t expect to beat the other GP25 Ducatis, or factory-spec machines from rival brands,

“It’s true that I didn’t expect to be among two factory Ducati riders or ahead of others with official bikes, but in the end, you work and dream about it, and all that effort from previous years eventually pays off,” Alex said.

While the Marquez family has locked down first and second, Marc’s team-mate Francesco Bagnaia is currently battling Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi for third in the world championship.

The other GP25 rider, Fabio di Giannantonio, is fighting his VR46 team-mate Franco Morbidelli for sixth overall.

Alex will join Marc, Bagnaia and di Giannantonio in racing a factory-spec Desmosedici GP26 at Gresini next season.