Marco Bezzecchi
Alex Marquez has regained the lead of the MotoGP championship after his first premier class win at the Grand Prix of Spain.
The Gresini rider benefitted from his brother Marc Marquez crashing in the early stages as he fought from the second row of the grid to win his first MotoGP race.
With his victory, Alex Marquez moves just one point clear of his brother heading into the next round at Le Mans. Not many would have anticipated the 28-year-old would be a title contender at the start of the season given his reputation for accidents.
Neil Hodgson expected more crashes from Marquez in 2025, he said after the Spaniard fell off his bike at turn one in Jerez during practice. Despite the incident, he recovered to qualify fourth, finish second in the Sprint and win the Grand Prix.
The Gresini rider’s consistency has been on another level this season, with only one finish outside the top two from the opening 10 races. Even teammate Fermin Aldeguer did not expect Marquez’s consistency as he now looks to continue his form into the European season.
But Marquez knows he will face fierce competition from his brother, as well as another rider who has been ‘suffering’ so far in 2025.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Alex Marquez from net worth to career stats
Alex Marquez urges MotoGP fans not to ‘give up’ on Francesco Bagnaia
Francesco Bagnaia came into the 2025 season looking to reclaim his crown. Despite winning 11 out of 20 races last year, he lost the title to Jorge Martin by 10 points.
Thus far in 2025, the two-time MotoGP has struggled to match his teammate Marc Marquez, or even the other Ducati riders on older machinery. Bagnaia sits 20 points behind Alex Marquez after finishing third in Jerez behind Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo.
Bagnaia’s ‘big limitation’ was exposed at Jerez as he could not overtake during the Sprint and struggling to make up ground on Sunday. He even admitted he would have finished fourth on Saturday had Quartararo not crashed out.
The Italian seems to be some distance from the Marquez brothers at this stage in terms of performance. However, speaking via El Partidazo de COPE, Alex Marquez insists fans cannot ‘give up’ on Bagnaia just yet.
“He’s suffering in the end. Yes, I mean, he’s suffering, but he’s going faster than last year with the same bike,” he said.
“So people say: ‘Yeah, I just haven’t found the feeling.’ Well no, he says it, he’s not completely feeling well on the bike but he’s going faster.
“So we’ll see, let’s see what happens. But he is a two-time MotoGP world champion, he played for the title until the last race last year with Jorge Martin and at any moment he’s a guy who makes you click, he takes that confidence that he has, that speed and he starts to win races.
“So let’s not give up on Bagnaia at all.”
READ MORE: Everything to know about Francesco Bagnaia from net worth to race number
How bad has Francesco Bagnaia’s start to the 2025 season really been?
It is easy to say that the 28-year-old has had a poor start to the season, given he has been dominated by Marc Marquez thus far in 2025 – he has one win to the Spaniard’s eight.
But the results paint a different picture for the Ducati rider. Bagnaia has enjoyed his best start to a season in his MotoGP career, with just two finishes off the podium in the opening 10 races.
However, it is clear the Italian does need to find some improvements if he is to challenge for the championship. Bagnaia must improve his Sprint race results if he wants to beat the Marquez brothers – Marc has won every race on Saturday while his teammate has not finished higher than third.
Peter Bom says Bagnaia is suffering his ‘worst nightmare’ in 2025 as he is being comprehensively beaten by Alex Marquez, who is on his bike from last season. The 28-year-old must act fast to find form if he is to win a third title.
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