Marco Bezzecchi
The 2025 MotoGP season has been the year of the Marquez brothers after Ducati star Marc Marquez won the title and Gresini’s Alex Marquez took second in the standings.
MotoGP will bring the curtain down on the 2025 campaign at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo with this weekend’s Valencia Grand Prix. But the only score to settle will be who takes third in the riders’ championship between Marco Bezzecchi of Aprilia and Francesco Bagnaia of Ducati.
Marc Marquez wrapped up the 2025 MotoGP riders’ title at the Japanese Grand Prix back in round 17 of this term’s 22. Alex Marquez also secured second place in the 2025 standings at the Malaysian Grand Prix in round 20. Bezzecchi trails Alex by 122 points with a round to go.
The Marquez brothers have simply been in a different league in 2025. Before Marc Marquez sustained a season-ending shoulder injury on the first lap of the Indonesian Grand Prix after being hit by Bezzecchi, he achieved 11 Grand Prix and 14 Sprint wins and scored eight poles.
Marc Marquez made a ‘pact’ with Alex Marquez about how they would race each other in 2025
Marc Marquez was also looking at the bigger picture from as early as round one of the 2025 MotoGP season back in March. Marc let Alex Marquez through to lead the Thai Grand Prix, in fear of receiving a tyre pressure penalty. Marc re-overtook Alex to win by 1.732s at Buriram.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Alex Marquez from net worth to career stats
Having secured the first of what proved to be six Grand Prix and 10 Sprint one-twos finishes for the Marquez brothers this term, Marc also suggested to Alex ahead of the Argentine GP that they should make a “pact” that nothing would happen if they were to collide in a race.
Gresini rider Alex revealed ahead of the Valencia GP, via MARCA: “It was in Argentina, after Thailand. In Thailand, he had problems with the front end and had to let me pass.
“He said, ‘Don’t you get, when you have to overtake me, a strange feeling, like, not fear, but not wanting to screw up, because he’s my brother and I don’t want to take him out?’
“I said, ‘Well, sometimes, yes. Sometimes it makes you a little nervous’. He said, ‘Well, no, because that’s just suffering. Let’s have a pact’.
“And what he said can happen. In the end, a mistake when you’re riding a MotoGP bike is braking a metre too late or a metre too early. Sometimes you brake earlier to avoid messing up and you mess up even more.
“That’s where we didn’t make a pact, but we said, ‘If we crash, nothing’s going to happen. We’ll get back up. You, or I, will tell you that you messed up, but we’ll still be brothers’.”
Alex Marquez’s fights with Marc Marquez in 2025 raised questions about his approach
While Marc told to Alex prior to the Argentine Grand Prix back in March that nothing would happen were the Marquez brothers to collide in a race this term, how the latter fought with his elder sibling at times raised questions about his approach to being the No1 in the family.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Marc Marquez from net worth to girlfriend
Alex frequently appeared to fight rivals like Bagnaia more aggressively than he would attack or defend against Marc. The most glaring examples occurred during the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello and also a week later during the Dutch Grand Prix at the TT Circuit Assen this June.
After slotting between the factory Ducati riders on Lap 6/23 at Mugello, Alex instantly pulled off an aggressive dive to overtake Bagnaia for the lead at Turn 3. But the 29-year-old did not attempt a similar move on Marc to snap back on L9, which let his brother run away and win.
MotoGP fans raged watching Alex not attack Marc Marquez during the Assen Sprint in June, as well, having spent the race hot on his brother’s heels. Alex did not wait for a second invite to overtake Bagnaia at Turn 8 on Lap 1, but he never felt safe to try a similar move on Marc.
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