Alex Marquez: “Mistakes I didn’t need to make” led to tense Portugal MotoGP sprint finish

Gresini’s Alex Marquez admits “mistakes I didn’t need to make” led to the tense last-lap showdown for sprint victory at the MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix with Pedro Acosta.

The 2025 championship runner-up came into Saturday at Portimao as the favourite following a strong Friday, but could only qualify in fifth due to a crash in Q2.

A rapid start saw Alex Marquez vault to third on the opening lap, before he quickly worked his way to the lead.

He had to engage in a hard battle with KTM’s Pedro Acosta to hold his lead, making a decisive move on the main straight on lap nine of 12.

But Acosta reeled him in over the final lap, with the pair split by just 0.120s at the chequered flag.

Marquez says he used up too much rear tyre, maximising his riding strength in the last corner, which then led to him being too conservative on the final lap and allowing Acosta an opportunity to close him down.

“I enjoyed it quite a lot,” he said after his second sprint win of 2025.

“I mean, after the qualy, the mistake that I did, it was important to remove that feeling that I had in my stomach, and I said, ‘Ok, today we can go for it’.

“I did a really good start, and when I was there behind them I saw that I had something more.

“So, I just said, ‘Ok, be patient, try to do things in the correct way’.

“It’s true that my plan was to overtake on the last corner before the first one.

“I had good drive there, always, with the Honda and with the Ducati; it’s my strong point.

“And I was able to overtake there in an easy mode.

“But it’s true that, to do that, I used a little bit too much rear tyre and in the end I was on the limit.

“So, I made small mistakes that I didn’t need to do, like in the last lap, I slowed down a little bit too much.

“Anyway, I think I still don’t have the feeling that I had yesterday on the bike. Some problems appeared on the front tyre, so maybe we need to balance the bike a bit better.”

Marquez added that his defence against Acosta was made more difficult by “problems stopping the bike”.

“He knew that the only opportunity he had to win the sprint was to attack me again,” he explained.

“And I was not able to defend, because I had some problems stopping the bike.

“This is something we also have to improve for tomorrow. In some places, the front feeling was not the best, so we need to see why.

“It was a nice battle. The battles are nice when you win. When you lose, it’s painful.”