Neil Hodgson explains why he is ‘struggling’ to watch Marc Marquez at the Czech Grand Prix

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Marc Marquez has had to amend his riding style since moving from the Honda RC213V he spent the majority of his career riding, to the Ducati GP25.

Marc Marquez is currently enjoying a return to championship-winning form since his arrival at the Ducati Lenovo team before the start of the 2025 MotoGP season.

The Spaniard’s dominance on the GP25 has been a sight to behold. Fabio Quartararo has even admitted that he wouldn’t be able to compete with Marquez in certain conditions, even if he were riding a bike built by the Italian manufacturer.

Jorge Martin’s manager is ‘positive’ that his rider can put up a title fight against the Spaniard, with the Frenchman looking towards 2026 following his injury-ridden campaign this season.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Marc Marquez from net worth to girlfriend

Marc Marquez on a Ducati is a ‘polar opposite’ to what he was like on a Honda

Speaking on the TNT Sports broadcast during Free Practice 2, Neil Hodgson made his feelings clear on the championship leader’s riding style, saying, “I’m struggling with Marc, I’ve decided. I’m just watching him, and I used to love watching Marc Marquez.

“I used to love watching him ride on the limit. I would be speechless at times. The bike would be dancing around the knee in the braking zones. He’d be backing it in, you think he’s going to miss the apex, but he wouldn’t.

“It’d slide out, he’s going off the edge of the kerb and watching him on the Ducati, he could not be more of a polar opposite. He looks slow, he brakes with the wheels in line. He does not look like he’s going past the toe. The back doesn’t move. It looks really easy.”

The words came before Marquez’s crash at the end of Q2, which saw his teammate, Pecco Bagnaia, take his first pole position of the season for Sunday’s Czech Republic Grand Prix.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Ducati from the MotoGP team’s riders to hierarchy

Marc Marquez has to ride the Ducati GP25 ‘slowly’ to extract the best performance out of the MotoGP bike

Responding to Hodgson’s comments, co-commentator Gavin Emmett added, “It’s like Jorge Lorenzo a bit more than it ever was. I remember you always used to go on about the hinge in the middle of the Honda.

“The handbrake turns, all these little bits and pieces, because that’s how he had to ride. He had to basically wring its neck, and yet with the Ducati, he said that last year, didn’t he? He said ‘I have to ride this bike slowly.'”

The words are a testament to the bike that Ducati have built. The team have dominated the sport in recent years, winning the constructors’ championship consecutively since 2020.

It looks like the championship will be heading in the Italian team’s direction in 2025 as well, with the top five riders in the drivers’ championship all riding a Ducati and the constructor enjoying a 232-point lead in their respective standings.