Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez was in a league of his own to win the MotoGP title with five rounds to spare in 2025, but Davide Tardozzi feels another rider also proved a point last season.
Ducati team manager Tardozzi watched Marquez stand on the top step of a podium 25 times in total after joining the Borgo Panigale brand last year. The 32-year-old scored 11 Grand Prix wins and 14 Sprint Race victories over the 18 rounds he entered, before sustaining an injury.
Marquez won the 2025 MotoGP riders’ title with five rounds to spare, which is the record for the most rounds remaining after the championship was decided. But the Spaniard required surgery for the shoulder injury that he then sustained on Lap 1 in Indonesia in round 18/22.
Aprilia racer Marco Bezzecchi took Marquez out at the start of the Indonesian Grand Prix, as he misjudged their differences in speed at Turn 7 while he tried to recover after a poor start. Marquez has resumed training after his injury and should be fit ahead of pre-season testing.
Name one rider you believe deserved more success during their MotoGP career?
Davide Tardozzi cannot believe that some people still underestimate Alex Marquez
Marquez’s injury meant his margin atop the standings was reduced from the 201-point lead he had as he left Japan as the newly-crowned 2025 champion. The Cervera native’s younger brother, Alex Marquez, reduced Marc’s lead to 78 points as the 29-year-old finished second.
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The Marquez siblings are the only brothers to ever finish first and second in a premier class championship. Yet, much to his belief, Tardozzi believes there are still some who do not see the talent that Alex Marquez boasts, despite his regular battles with Marc Marquez in 2025.
“Alex isn’t a promising talent, he’s an absolute and proven reality,” he told Motorsport.com. “I don’t understand how even today there are people who don’t realise that Alex is a very strong rider.
“He’s won two world championships, he’s made it clear that he’s not [only] Marc’s brother, that he’s Alex Marquez, an extraordinary rider, and we’re very happy that he’s racing with a Ducati.”
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Alex Marquez of Gresini had never ranked higher than eighth in the MotoGP championship before 2025, as he received the Ducati Desmosedici GP24 with which Jorge Martin won the 2024 title with Pramac. The 29-year-old had also never won a MotoGP race before last year.
But Alex Marquez scored his first MotoGP race win at Jerez in 2025, and he started the term with P2 results in nine of the first 10 Sprint Races and in five of the first 10 Grands Prix. Alex Marquez won the Sprint at the British GP for his only non-P2 finish across that 10-round run.
Requiring surgery on the fractured left hand he suffered during the Dutch Grand Prix after a collision with Pedro Acosta of KTM at the TT Circuit Assen disrupted Alex Marquez’s season. He also started to make errors during races that seldom occurred at the start of the season.
While Alex Marquez collided with VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio during the Qatar GP during round four, he largely had a clean record until the Spaniard took out Honda’s Joan Mir in the Czech GP during round 12. Also, Alex Marquez beat Marc in the Catalan GP to win on merit.
But there were incidents where MotoGP fans questioned Alex Marquez’s approach to racing Marc, such as how he was more aggressive battling Francesco Bagnaia during the Italian GP than his brother. Some fans also felt Alex was too reluctant to fight Marc in the Assen Sprint.
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