Marc Marquez just tarnished Fabio Quartararo’s Dutch Grand Prix pole lap after revealing his tactic

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Marc Marquez qualified on the second row of the grid for only the second time in 2025 at the Dutch Grand Prix.

The championship leader qualified P4 behind his brother Alex Marquez, teammate Francesco Bagnaia and polesitter Fabio Quartararo. Marquez was over two tenths off the pole time.

Quartararo set an electrifying lap in Q2 to take his fourth pole position of 2025. The Yamaha star is the only rider besides Marquez to put his bike at the front of the grid.

Unfortunately, it was a similar story for the Frenchman from pole this season at the Dutch Grand Prix, as he fell behind the Marquez brothers and Marco Bezzecchi in the Sprint. He crashed out in the closing laps while under pressure from Fabio Di Giannantonio.

Marquez won his ninth Sprint of the season as he displayed his dominant pace on the field. Quartararo will look to keep the six-time MotoGP champion behind him in Sunday’s race from pole.

Marc Marquez ‘didn’t push’ in qualifying at the Dutch GP because his body ‘couldn’t accept’ another crash

As impressive as the Yamaha rider’s pole was, Marquez tarnished that feat by revealing his tactics to DAZN after the Sprint.

Marquez crashed heavily in FP1, leaving him shaken with bruises and cuts to his hand and chin. Marquez was among several riders to crash in free practice in an almost identical accident.

Davide Tardozzi stated that the Spaniard was fine but he was clearly feeling the effects of the incidents during qualifying. After setting his strongest lap of 1:30:871, Marquez only did another two laps before bailing out of a final attempt. He claimed that ‘I didn’t push’ in fear of crashing again.

“Today was one of those days where I woke up and spent time on the couch watching the races on DAZN,” he said after the Sprint.

“I understood perfectly, from the first minute, already in Q2, that my body couldn’t accept another big crash today. That’s why in qualifying, when I saw the 1:30.8, I had two more laps, but I didn’t push. It was enough; wherever I got there, I got there, because my body couldn’t accept another crash.

“Tomorrow, we’ll see if we can recover a little more and be able to go a little more freely in that fast section, which is where I need to play with my body a little more to maintain my speed.”

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Ducati will want Marc Marquez to take caution as he risks an injury at the Dutch Grand Prix

Marquez displayed his expertise and pure talent to shrug off his accidents in practice to win the Sprint in commanding fashion. But the risk of injury is incredibly high at Assen, with the fast-flowing nature of the circuit catching out several riders already.

Marquez made the same mistake as Jorge Lorenzo in free practice, as he crashed at turn seven. It was the same corner where his former Honda teammate broke two vertebrae in 2019 that ultimately ended his MotoGP career.

Marquez and Ducati will want to avoid another accident, as the Spaniard was clearly afraid of crashing in qualifying, given his relaxed approach.

The last thing the team will want is to have the championship leader sidelined for a lengthy period. Tardozzi needs to speak to his Ducati engineers after they dropped Marquez while celebrating victory at Mugello; it proves injury can occur anywhere in MotoGP.