Alex Marquez says his Yamaha MotoGP contract ‘lasted five days’ before Valentino Rossi ally intervened

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Alex Marquez will ride a factory-spec Ducati in 2026, justifying each decision he’s made up to this point in his career. It could easily have panned out very differently.

He made his debut in 2020 alongside his brother Marc Marquez at Honda. Marc missed almost the entire season through injury, and Alex’s subsequent struggles saw him dropped to LCR for 2021.

A year before Marc’s bombshell Honda exit, Alex moved to the Ducati-backed Gresini team. He has grown in stature since, winning his first two Grands Prix this season.

The younger Marquez is now a contender to join Ducati’s factory team for the 2027 season. But in an interview with Chiringuito Inside, he’s revealed how close he came to riding a Yamaha instead.

Alex Marquez says he ‘paid’ for Valentino Rossi’s rivalry with Marc Marquez

Marquez almost started his MotoGP career on a Yamaha bike with satellite team SRT. The 2019 Moto2 champion even signed a contract.

But that was when factory team boss Lin Jarvis intervened. Marquez believes the intense rivalry between Marc and Yamaha legend Valentino Rossi stopped him from joining.

Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli raced for the satellite team instead, with Quartararo going on to become world champion under Jarvis in 2021.

Conversely, 2020 was Rossi’s final season at the official team before he finished his career at SRT.

“I could have signed for Yamaha, yes,” A. Marquez said. “But it didn’t work out. Veto is a dirty word, but it’s true that I did sign that contract.

“I was riding for the Yamaha satellite team – Yamaha Team Petronas SIC – but Yamaha had the final say. They had to give the OK. I signed with the team, but Yamaha never gave the OK. That contract lasted five days.

“It was because of what happened between Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi. They didn’t tell me directly, but indirectly, yes. I paid for those things, even though it wasn’t my fault

“It’s very easy to say it was Yamaha. In the end, he’s the one in charge at Yamaha – at the time, it was Lin Jarvis – then they change the one in charge and there’s no problem anymore.

“These are things that people take personally, but it’s something that, with time and everything, they relax.”

How Valentino Rossi inadvertently helped Alex Marquez land a factory Ducati

Five years on, Marquez has received some accidental assistance from Rossi. Ducati offered two GP26s to VR46.

Rossi would have bought a factory bike for Pedro Acosta, but his top target was out of reach. After handing Franco Morbidelli a short-term extension instead, he opted to stick with this year’s dynamic.

That freed up a top-of-the-range motorcycle for Marquez. Nadia Padovani says it’s ‘about time’ Gresini received this privilege.

Marc Marquez says Alex’s surname is a ‘burden’, and the Yamaha episode certainly suggested as much. But this year above all, he’s come to be regarded as a formidable rider in his own right.