Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez suffered his second crash of the 2025 MotoGP season at the Grand Prix of Spain. It opened the door for brother Alex to regain the lead of the championship.
It has been an almost flawless start to the season for the Ducati rider. Claiming pole position in the opening four rounds, Marquez won seven of the opening eight races.
His first major mistake of the year came in Austin. Just like 2024, Marquez crashed from the lead in the tricky conditions, handing the win to Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia.
The Spaniard recovered by dominating in Qatar and looked set to do the same at the Spanish Grand Prix. He commanded the Sprint race after polesitter Fabio Quartararo crashed in the opening laps.
In Sunday’s race, Marquez and Bagnaia battled hard in the opening stages, producing aggressive overtakes on one another. With the former trailing the latter in third, he pushed too hard at turn seven and fell off his GP25 into the gravel.
MotoGP fans blamed Bagnaia for the crash, believing his pressure caused Marquez to fall. The Spaniard recovered to finish 12th, but his points lost proved his teammate may have been right about the title battle in 2025.
Marc Marquez’s Jerez crash proved Francesco Bagnaia was right about scoring points wherever possible in 2025
Alberto Puig ‘never understood’ people’s dismissal of Marquez’s dominance before the season started. The Spaniard has been on another level at Ducati, but his two crashes have already proved costly.
Marquez spent two days thinking about his Austin crash and he may ponder for even longer over his accident on home soil. Brother Alex now leads the championship by just one point, with Bagnaia 19 points behind his teammate.
Jerez was a frustrating weekend for the Italian as he struggled to overtake when he got close to the bike in front. Bagnaia’s ‘big limitation’ was exposed as he could not get past Quartararo’s Yamaha, but still came home to finish third.
Many people have spoken about the 28-year-old having a difficult start to the season as he has been dominated by his Ducati teammate thus far. While he has offered little competition to Marquez, Bagnaia is picking up the points when required.
This was something he struggled with in 2024, with numerous mistakes costing Bagnaia the 2024 title to Jorge Martin. In 2025, Bagnaia has ‘recognised’ he must take points on offer to win the championship.
Marquez’s crash at Jerez proves the Italian is correct in his approach. Including Sprint races, Bagnaia has been on the podium eight times out of 10 and finished every race, while the Spaniard’s accidents have opened the door for his rivals to stay in contention.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Francesco Bagnaia from net worth to race number
Carlo Pernat suspects Francesco Bagnaia is right about scoring points on offer in 2025
Speaking via GPOne after Sunday’s race at Jerez, Carlo Pernat thinks Bagnaia may be right about scoring points on offer. Marquez’s ‘desire to overdo it’ has ‘reopened’ the championship for his brother and teammate to pounce.
“In this MotoGP, you have to start in the first or second row. If you start at the back, there’s nothing you can do. You can’t achieve the results,” said Pernat.
“It’s a world championship that has reopened. It seemed like a dominance of Marc Marquez, but probably his desire to overdo it…
“The zeros are starting to become two, that’s a lot for rider like him. Maybe Bagnaia is right in being so consistent, as they say in cycling terms, where points matter more, the podium matters more, the third place.
However, we certainly didn’t expect Bagnaia behind Alex Marquez.”
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