Marc Marquez explains why his MotoGP career could have ended at Gresini even before he joined Ducati

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Marc Marquez has had one of the greatest comebacks in sporting history. After suffering from a horrific string of near career-ending injuries with Honda in 2020 and 2022, the Spaniard is on the cusp of securing his seventh world championship in the premier class.

Marquez spent a total of 11 seasons at the factory Honda team from the beginning of his career in MotoGP, and won all six of his current premier class titles with the team.

The Spaniard swapped Japanese machinery for the currently dominant Italian machinery as Marquez made a shock move to ride for Gresini Racing in the 2023 season for free after a couple of campaigns atop a suboptimal Honda bike.

He showed glimpses of his past form at the Faenza-based racing outfit, winning three Grands Prix in the second half of the season. Marquez’s first win for Gresini marked the end of a 1,043-day wait to stand on the top step of the podium.

READ MORE: Valentino Rossi realised he had to change when he saw a young Marc Marquez do one thing on the bike

Marc Marquez would have retired from MotoGP if he weren’t competitive in his first season with Gresini

Pedro Acosta hailed Marquez’s ‘brutal’ return to MotoGP amid his current dominance in the 2025 season, highlighting that the Spaniard didn’t have to return to the sport due to the impressive legacy he had already built within the sport prior to his injuries.

In a recent interview with MotoGP, Marquez touched upon the reasons why he felt that he had to make a comeback, as well as revealing how important his first season at Gresini was in continuing to compete.

“I wanted to prove to myself, I wanted to answer the question of, ‘Am I competitive?’” Marquez said. “And to answer the question, I had to try and find the best bike on the grid. That was Ducati.

“I just forgot about the relationships, the money, the history, and I said, ‘Okay, I just want to answer that question.’ I had comments from my brother that helped. Alex helped me a lot to make the decision.

“I said only one year, let’s see, if I’m competitive. If, in that year with Gresini, I wasn’t competitive, I’m sure that my career would have ended.

“I left Honda and I rode for free at a very good team in Gresini. But I rode for free because I had to prove to myself that I was able to be competitive, which was a very big challenge where I risked a lot of things.”

And thus, the rest was history. Marquez returned as a competitive force in 2024 as he finished third in the championship before making the move to the factory outfit in 2025, where he has stamped his authority on his return to the top of the grid.

READ MORE: Jorge Lorenzo highlights what makes his former MotoGP teammates Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi so similar

Alex Marquez will receive a factory Ducati bike at Gresini in 2026

Due to his impressive results in the 2025 season, which have seen him emerge as the second-best rider on the grid behind his brother, Ducati have announced that Alex Marquez will be rewarded with a factory bike in the 2026 MotoGP campaign.

VR46 were initially offered the chance of receiving two factory bikes from the Borgo Panigale-based team, but Valentino Rossi rejected the proposal after missing out on signing Pedro Acosta from KTM.

It will mark the second time in Alex’s career that he will receive the benefit of full factory support in the premier class.

His first opportunity in MotoGP came alongside his brother at Honda during the 2020 season, where Alex made the jump up to the premier class after winning the Moto2 title in 2019.

The 29-year-old now has an opportunity to put up more of a fight against his older brother in the upcoming term, as both riders will be competing on exactly the same machinery.