Alex Marquez explains Brno MotoGP withdrawal decision, big win of his comeback

Alex Marquez says his decision to withdraw from the rest of the MotoGP Czech Grand Prix was “to avoid risk” and was not down to his physical condition.

The Gresini Ducati rider staged his comeback from a horrendous accident last month at the Catalan Grand Prix, which left him with fractures to his neck and collarbone, this weekend at Brno.

Alex Marquez was an impressive 14th in qualifying on Saturday, but elected to withdraw from the remainder of the weekend shortly after.

He says this wasn’t anything to do with his physical condition, having been “faster than I expected”, but rather to avoid unnecessary risk.

“It’s not that I stopped because I am unfit; it was just to avoid risk,” he explained on Saturday.

“Many times when you are in a race it’s difficult to avoid having zero percent of risk, for other riders or some racing incidents.

“So, also the team from yesterday was pushing me to stop, but I said, ‘Ok, we give a little bit more’.

“We are trying to make a good job, so after the qualifying we decided to take a step back to avoid the risk of injuries because the doctors said to me before coming here that I am fit but try to avoid crashing.

“So, I was much faster than what I was expecting, and for me that’s job done.

“[Now I will] try to recover these next five days all of the muscles and be in Assen and try to do the whole weekend.”

‘Always you have some doubts…’

Marquez said the main point of returning at Brno was to remove any doubts in his mind following his crash, which has made this weekend “so important for me”.

“And I said, more than for the physical side, I was here for the mental side because, for me, it was important to… I didn’t have so many questions in my head, but after an accident like Barcelona, always you have some doubts [about] how I will be on the bike, will I be really free?

“I was riding in a good way, in smooth way again.

“I was missing a few points for the physical limitations, but on the mental side, this weekend was so important for me.”

He added: “I feel stiff, I feel tired, especially the neck and the shoulders still need to improve a lot.

“But this is part of the recovery. Unfortunately, we can’t have tests with the MotoGP bike; that would have been the perfect thing.

“So, we did these 50 laps during Friday and this morning to try to be at 100% as soon as possible.”