Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez’s title-winning 2025 MotoGP campaign ended prematurely through injury, and Marco Melandri has explained why his absence from racing may actually improve his title chances for next season.
One week after securing his seventh premier class championship, Marquez was involved in an incident with Marco Bezzecchi at the Grand Prix of Indonesia in October that left the Spaniard with a broken collarbone.
He was subsequently sidelined for the foreseeable future, with a potential return for the final races of the season being up in the air.
Marquez was officially ruled out for the rest of the year two weeks later, with Michele Pirro and Nicolo Bulega sharing duties to replace him in the premier class.
Ever the competitor, Marquez was aiming to return for the final round of the term in Valencia. However, to maximise recuperation, the Spaniard decided to take on the advice from the professionals around him and instead set his sights on being in a race-ready condition for the upcoming 2026 campaign.
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Marco Melandri believes Marc Marquez’s ‘forced excuse to rest’ will benefit him in the 2025 MotoGP season
In an interview with Moto.it, the former MotoGP rider was asked a number of questions regarding his nine-year stint in the premier class, as well as about the state of the sport today.
One of the questions that Melandri fielded referred to Marquez’s recent injury and whether the extent of it has been underestimated, given his troubled history with arm injuries in the past.
The Italian replied, “I think that, having won the world championship, he’s spent a lot of energy this year, and so this injury represents, in inverted commas, a forced excuse to rest for him. He’s also stopped to recharge his batteries psychologically.
“It could almost be a better thing than a worse thing, looking ahead to 2026. I had his injury, and it’s not that trivial. It was 2003, and I had surgery on my acromioclavicular joint.
“However, when you transplant a ligament, you need at least three weeks of forced rest, and then recovery isn’t that quick.
“Especially on an arm in the condition his is, it’s right that Marc respects the injury, so let’s say the negative experience at Jerez 2020 has taught him a lot. I believe he’ll be back on the bike when he’s ready. Ducati is already thinking about developing the bike.
“I don’t think Marquez’s development over the winter is that essential; it’s more important to have a fit Marquez when the world championship starts.
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Marc Marquez has outlined when he expects to be back on a MotoGP bike ahead of the 2026 season
Still undergoing rehabilitation, Marquez is hoping to be fit enough to return to action at the first official pre-season test in Sepang.
The event is set to take place at the start of February, giving the Spaniard another three months to complete his recovery period.
However, Marquez was explicit in saying that the Sepang test isn’t a confirmed date, but rather an idea of when he is aiming to be ready.
If he is unable to take part, it could throw a further spanner into the works for the development of Ducati’s GP26.
Aprilia have seemingly closed the gap that Ducati have enjoyed over the rest of the field, and they could very much find themselves within a championship battle against their compatriots in the upcoming campaign.
During their attempts to give Bezzecchi a bike that can compete at the front of the grid, Aprilia have taken inspiration from Marquez by creating an environment that necessitates the engineers stepping out of their comfort zone and thinking outside the box.
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