Marc Marquez confirms one-year Ducati MotoGP contract was “on the table”

Marc Marquez has confirmed that a one-year Ducati MotoGP contract extension was “on the table”.

The reigning champion’s new two-year extension was officially announced earlier this week.

However, there had been winter speculation that uncertainty over the condition of his right shoulder might mean he would opt for a shorter deal.

“It was there on the table,” Marc Marquez confirmed of the one-year option at Assen on Thursday.

“But in the end the best for the project was two years contract.”

Marquez, who will be joined by Pedro Acosta as his new team-mate next season, insisted he never looked beyond Ducati.

“Ducati was always my first option. We started talking last season. Then we stopped because I said I need to know after Indonesia how my right shoulder will be,” he said.

The Spaniard also admitted he had been “scared” about how much strength he would lose following last year's shoulder injuries, which required follow-up surgery in May.

“I was scared. In every surgery you lose some percentage.  Sometimes you lose 5 percent, and you don’t feel it. Sometimes you lose much more,” Marquez explained.

“It’s true that on the right arm, I was losing step by step more percentage compared to the left side of my body.

“And it’s there where I say I need to wait [about my future]. Because if I lose much more percentage, I’m not able to ride the bike.

“Now it looks like, after the last surgery - because the first part of season was a disaster - the percentage has arrived more or less in an acceptable level to keep going, keep enjoying my passion.”

Marquez heads into this weekend's Assen round having cut Marco Bezzecchi's MotoGP championship advantage from 102 points to 40.