Neil Hodgson reveals why didn’t ‘rate’ Marc Marquez when he first met him, ‘he’s so small’

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Marc Marquez is arguably the greatest rider to have ever competed in MotoGP, but he wasn’t always rated as highly as he is nowadays.

The factory Ducati rider made history in 2025 when he became the oldest competitor to win a MotoGP title.

The 32-year-old was in fine form during his debut year in Borgo Panigale, winning 25 out of the 36 races he competed in across all formats on his way to the seventh premier class championship of his career.

Marquez was ‘destined’ to become a MotoGP world champion since his days in the lower levels of Grand Prix motorcycle racing, but not everybody thought he had what it takes to be the very best.

• READ MORE: MotoGP engineer says Marc Marquez is more ‘intense’ than Valentino Rossi after working with both riders

Neil Hodgson reveals why he didn’t ‘rate’ Marc Marquez when he first met him in 2008

During a TNT Sports documentary that detailed Marquez’s rise back to the top of the MotoGP grid, pundit Neil Hodgson shared his first impressions of the Spaniard in the early days of his career.

The former MotoGP rider recalled, “When I first saw him on the track, he would have been really young, and he was so small!

“It was his first year in 125 Grand Prix racing, and I remember thinking I’d heard there was quite a bit of hype about him, and I remember thinking, ‘I don’t rate him. I don’t think he’s that good.’

“Once he got his first victory, it was like that was it. He had experienced the drug of winning. And from that moment on, he’s become an addict. And he can’t live without it.”

The 52-year-old has watched Marquez throughout the entirety of his career, through the extremely successful highs, as well as the horrifying lows.

Hodgson previously recalled how he thought Marquez would ‘genuinely’ retire from MotoGP during his injury-stricken period at the start of the 2020s.

• READ MORE: Marc Marquez says he’s ‘reminded’ of himself watching 14-race Moto2 rider in action this season

Alex Marquez also recalled how ‘impressive’ Marc Marquez was during his younger years

Marc’s brother, Alex Marquez, was also asked for his recollection of the seven-time premier class champion before he became the formidable figure in the MotoGP paddock that he is today.

He said, “Marc, from when he was a kid, really young, he was so super fast on motocross.

“I remember those days, and yeah, he was super talented from the first day that he was on the bike. And with his style, he was all in.

“I remember that he crashed many times already on the motocross, but he was really, really impressive.

“We were going to the races, that was our game, our weekend game and it was nice to share that passion with my older brother.”

Alex and Marc were inseparable during the 2025 campaign, with the two Marquez brothers sharing a house in Spain as the season progressed, and often training together every day.