Marc Marquez’s Hungary MotoGP win came with surprise admission about his return

Marc Marquez says he returned from injury as soon as Mugello “to prepare” for a MotoGP win in Hungary as “I don’t know how many chances I will have to think about victories”.

The reigning world champion endured a difficult start to the 2026 campaign due to nerve issues from his serious shoulder injury suffered in a crash in Indonesia last year.

He sat out the Catalan Grand Prix to have surgery to correct this, moving it up after a foot fracture ruled him out Sunday at the French Grand Prix.

Marc Marquez returned to action at Mugello after just three weeks out, where he was a distant seventh in the main race.

Given the fast, clockwise layout of Mugello, his decision to return there seemed unusual at the time given his stance that he was not fighting for the world title.

However, after winning a week later at the Hungarian Grand Prix, he revealed all.

“I cannot lie about this…”

Asked last Sunday if he returned at Mugello specifically to launch a victory challenge in Hungary, he said: “Yes. I cannot lie about this.

“I decided to ride in Mugello to prepare for this race track, because I don’t know - honestly speaking - how many chances I will have to think about victories in the weekends.

“And I knew that here, with the left corners, it was a chance.

“But, in the situation I am in, I cannot approach the weekend in attack mode from the beginning.

“Then, if I feel [good], I attack. But I cannot approach [the weekend like this].

“I would like to say to you after the summer break in the press conference that I am ready to attack.

“But now is not the time. As I say, I believe I have more to lose than to gain. So, let’s keep calm.”

Marquez was touted by his rivals as a favourite coming into the Hungary weekend, owing to the circuit’s anticlockwise layout.

The Ducati rider has famously excelled on these types of circuits in his career, while in the wake of his latest injury to his right shoulder, these layouts place less physical strain on him.

But he said from the outset that, if he won, something would have gone wrong for his rivals.

Asked in Sunday’s post-race press conference about these comments, he replied: “I’m a believer. Of course, it was not in the plan, honestly speaking.

“The only key point was that, on Friday, in my third lap, fourth lap, the lap time came in an easy way.

“Then I was able to save energy during all of the Friday; I was just pushing for two laps, slowing down for five laps, just pushing by sectors.

“It’s super difficult on the mental side to do this. It’s super difficult to keep the concentration and take the reference.

“But then, you can see in the papers, I’m not lying. Just, in free practice two is when I gave everything.

“But in Mugello, for example, I didn’t have that pace to do it.

“And then I was suffering a lot. But here it was coming well with my riding style.

“And that helped a lot to save the energy. But it’s true that in the race, it’s maybe the first time in my career that I had left arm pump problems because I was pushing too much with the left.”