Ducati slams riders ‘who stay silent’ as Marc Marquez criticised for Qatar stance

Ducati’s Davide Tardozzi has slammed riders who “remain silent” when speaking to MotoGP bosses, amid backlash at Marc Marquez’s stance on the Qatar Grand Prix.

MotoGP is due to race in Qatar in two weeks, despite uncertainty over the conflict in the Gulf region that has been raging since February.

During the Australian Grand Prix weekend, riders held a secret meeting to discuss going to Qatar, before issuing demands for guarantees from the organisers to safely run the event.

On Thursday at Phillip Island, reigning champion Marc Marquez declined to comment when asked about racing in Qatar.

“That annoys me…”

Marquez’s response has been interpreted as the Ducati rider effectively stating that he doesn’t want to go.

However, Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi has hit back at this, stating that Marquez has been “quite intelligent” in leading calls for guarantees to be put in place.

“As for Marc, he's simply the most charismatic person; so many riders who express opinions on the outside that are much, much more forceful than Marc's, then when it comes to a meeting in front of the organiser, they remain silent,” Tardozzi told Sky Italy.

“And that's a bit like that, it's a waste of time.

“That said, then you blame Marquez for being the only one who carries the voice of all the other riders, who has the courage to speak out despite other riders who, as I say and repeat, say much worse things than him, while he was quite intelligent in saying 'Let's try to mediate the situation, to bring about situations that can guarantee us that there's an evacuation, a plan B, that everything is in place for us to be safe.'

“That's what he asked for, but I repeat, there were many others who said worse things, but then didn't have the courage to repeat them in front of the organiser. That annoys me.

"Because I read that Marc was blamed, as if he were the one who didn't want to go to Qatar.

“That's not the case; Marc simply asked, like many others, for an organisational safety plan, no more, no less.

“He didn't say 'I don't want to go.' And I repeat, for the third time, there were those who said they wouldn't go, but then in front of the organisers they didn't say it again.”