“Strongest” Alex Marquez leads Jerez MotoGP warm-up ahead of “second chance”
Marc Marquez and Fabio di Giannantonio name Alex Marquez as the favourite after warm-up for the 2026 Spanish MotoGP at Jerez.
After crashing from the lead in the Jerez MotoGP Sprint rain, Alex Marquez is eyeing Catalunya 2025-style redemption this afternoon.
The Gresini Ducati rider, named by brother Marc as the man to beat after Friday practice, had caught and passed the reigning champion just before the downpour.
But the sun is shining again for Sunday, when Alex returned to the top by just 0.045s over Marc in morning warm-up.
Afterwards, Marc again labelled Alex as the favourite.
“He is the man to put pressure!” said Alex Marquez, when told of Marc’s words. “It’s true I’ve been feeling good here in Jerez since Friday.
“Yesterday I did a big mistake, but today I think we have options. Today the wind is stronger but it should be a good day and we’ll try our best.”
The Spaniard also crashed while leading last year’s Catalunya Sprint, then rebounded with victory in the grand prix.
“Yesterday we were leading and when you’re leading in those [wet] conditions you’re in the worst position to take the decision [to pit],” he said.
“Today we have a second chance, as we did last year in Catalunya, so well try our best and try to fight at least for the podium.”
Alex was also named as favourite by front row qualifier Fabio di Giannantonio, who will start alongside Marc Marquez and Johann Zarco.
“Yeah obviously, Alex is the strongest one and we need to try to be closest to him,” said the VR46 Ducati rider.
“We can fight for something big but as we saw this morning the opponents are quote fast.
“Marc and Alex are in top form but also Johann is tough to overtake early in the race.”
As in the Sprint, the combative Zarco could prove a bottleneck for those behind after claiming second in the wet qualifying.
“I had a good qualifying yesterday and a fine race. A top five today would be amazing,” said the LCR Honda rider, eighth yesterday.
Marc Marquez’s team-mate Pecco Bagnaia, runner-up in the Sprint, made set-up changes to better suit the latest Ducati ‘modification’ at Jerez, finishing eleventh in the warm-up (+0.5s).
“We changed a bit the set-up this morning and I felt a bit better,” said the Italian.
The 25 lap Spanish MotoGP starts at 2pm local time.
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Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
