Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez secured another maximum points haul with Ducati at the Dutch Grand Prix. The Ducati rider has extended his lead in the championship after his title rivals struggled at Assen.
The Spaniard collected 37 points with pole position and wins in the Sprint and main race. Alex Marquez finished second on Saturday for the ninth time in 2025, but crashed out on Sunday after a collision with Pedro Acosta.
Marc Marquez’s teammate Francesco Bagnaia finished 2.6 seconds behind in third at the Dutch Grand Prix. The Italian has been trying to find performance on the GP25 all season, but has struggled to extract the maximum from his bike like Marquez.
Luigi Dall’Igna says Marquez ‘making the difference’ over Bagnaia by pulling away from the field. The latter finished behind Aprilia rider Marco Bezzecchi as he cannot find a way to get the better of his Ducati teammate.
Jorge Lorenzo says Francesco Bagnaia is trying to beat Marc Marquez just like he tried to beat Casey Stoner in 2011
Bagnaia is now an eye-watering 126 points behind Marquez heading into the next round at the Sachsenring. Ducati are committed to helping Bagnaia improve his form, but he is facing a massive uphill struggle to recover his season.
MotoGP legend Jorge Lorenzo has compared his situation to when the Spaniard was fighting Casey Stoner in 2011. Riding for Yamaha, he could not catch the Honda, ultimately losing the title by 90 points.
Speaking via Duralavita, Lorenzo sees Bagnaia in a similar situation. He says the Italian is ‘convinced’ he can beat Marquez, but he does not have the bike suited to him that can do it.
“I think he is convinced that he can beat Mark, who thinks he is defeated and that Mark will always beat him,” said Lorenzo.
“For example, in 2011, when Stoner was superior with the Honda, I wanted to beat him and in fact, that’s why I crashed in Australia in the warm-up.
“That thing with my finger happened to me, because it happened to me in the warm-up. And I had him about 200 metres away and I wanted to catch him with a bike that wasn’t very good that year.
“Then it was windy and in the end, I lost control and fell. I mean, Pecco, I think he’s in a situation where he thinks that this bike isn’t for him and that better times will come and that during this process, he has to keep insisting and working and looking for solutions.”
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Jorge Lorenzo feared he would never have the same feeling again after his Australia 2011 crash
Lorenzo knows from experience what it is like to fight a losing battle against a title rival. Stoner had the beat of everyone in 2011 as he won 10 races on his way to the title.
The Spaniard was still in contention against his rival at the Australian GP, but he pushed too hard during the warm-up to catch Stoner and crashed, severing the tip of his ring finger and it got stuck under the bike.
Stoner claimed the title on home soil that weekend while Lorenzo missed the rest of the season. Speaking via BBC Sport after the accident, the then-Yamaha rider explained how he felt he would not have the same feeling again in his hands.
“After the crash I was very worried I would not have full feeling in my finger again,” he said. “With the excellent treatment I had, I have been assured I will have complete feeling in nerves and tendons.”
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