Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez produced one of his most dominant seasons in MotoGP to date during the 2025 campaign, but his first year with Ducati was cut short after a shoulder injury.
Ducati welcomed Marquez to Borgo Panigale for the 2025 MotoGP season, having opted not to sign Jorge Martin as Enea Bastianini’s replacement. Marquez wasted no time to justify the Bologna Bullets’ decision, as he won three of the first four Grands Prix and each Sprint Race.
Marquez ultimately won 11 Grands Prix and 14 Sprints during the 2025 campaign, including registering a remarkable run of seven straight doubles from round eight to 14. The 32-year-old even won the title with five rounds to spare, having left Japan boasting a 201-point lead.
But Marquez sustained a season-ending shoulder injury in Indonesia when he was taken out by Marco Bezzecchi. The Ducati rider underwent surgery in October on the coracoid fracture and ligament damage in his right shoulder blade, which required his arm to be immobilised.
Mat Oxley feels MotoGP lacks a rider who ‘forces the pace’ without Marc Marquez racing
Gresini rookie Fermin Aldeguer took his first MotoGP Grand Prix win in Indonesia, following Aprilia ace Bezzecchi’s crash with Marquez. Also, Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez took his first MotoGP Grand Prix win in Australia, in the first round that Marquez was forced to miss.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Marc Marquez from net worth to girlfriend
Fill in the blank: Marc Marquez would have won _ titles without his arm injury
Marquez’s absence through injury also gave Mat Oxley the same feeling he had when Mick Doohan suffered his career-ending crash at the 1999 Spanish Grand Prix. Oxley cannot take the racing “seriously” without MotoGP’s best rider racing, be it Doohan or, now, Marquez.
Oxley told Motor Sport Magazine: “‘The sport missed him’, I wrote in my Doohan biography published at that time. ‘For some months, it was difficult to take the racing seriously, like watching second best’.
“I feel much the same today when Marquez isn’t out there, forcing the pace, going places that others either fear to go, or don’t even think about going, and generally making everyone else sweat.”
Marc Marquez won the 2025 MotoGP title in record time before his shoulder injury
Is Mick Doohan the greatest motorcycle racer born outside Europe?
Doohan did not return after crashing at Jerez during practice at the 1999 500cc Spanish GP. The Australian touched the damp white line between Turns 3 and 4, and broke his left wrist, left foot, right collarbone, right leg, right hand and two ribs after hitting a trackside barrier.
Honda had seen Doohan win the 500cc title every season from 1994 to 1998, much like they later saw Marquez win the MotoGP title each term except for 2015 between 2013 and 2019. Marquez broke his right humerus after a highside at Jerez’s Turn 3 in the 2020 Spanish GP.
It took Marquez until the 2025 season, and a switch to Ducati after one year with Gresini, to return to the top of MotoGP. He even won the 2025 title with the most rounds remaining in history, and could have also broken his win record for a season (13) were it not for his injury.
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