Marco Bezzecchi
Andrea Dovizioso was the man to challenge Marc Marquez towards the end of the 2010s, but was sadly never quite able to beat him.
At the time, Honda were still mighty, and almost at the top of their game, having won every single title bar one from 2012 to 2019.
Ducati were just starting to come into their own, but wouldn’t reap the rewards of their work until a few years further down the line in 2022.
By then, Dovizioso had retired, and Marquez was looking to reinvent himself, which he has definitely done now, but their surprise rivalry was one which lasts in the memory. They had some great battles.
Do you think that Andrea Dovizioso was Marc Marquez’s closest rival during the Honda years?
Only two riders in history compete with Marquez, according to Davide Tardozzi, who has had the pleasure of working with him for 12 months now.
An ex-rival has sent the Spaniard a warning, though. Jorge Lorenzo says Marquez can’t defy ageing and that he will fall off at some point, no matter how harsh it seems.
READ MORE: One Ducati fan banner shows the Tifosi have changed their minds about Marc Marquez
Andrea Dovizioso says the ‘only way’ to beat Marc Marquez was through creating situations
Dovizioso ‘immediately’ changed after watching Marquez on the Honda, and the way that he controlled the front of his bike.
He thinks that Ducati ‘didn’t realise’ who Marquez was until they got the pleasure of working with him in 2025.
On the track, he’s about as feared as anyone ever has been. That means Dovizioso had to get creative in conflict when fighting him.
Speaking in Mat Oxley’s Marc The Magnificent biography, he explains how he caught the seven-time champion off guard during his time fighting for titles with him.
“All those battles were so beautiful because of the way I managed Marc in those moments,” he said. “I managed them in the perfect way, and I found the key to battle against a really strong, smart and talented rider.
“I understand Marc, and I knew what he could do, so I tried to create situations, thinking about how he would react to those situations. That was the only way to beat him, and it worked.”
READ MORE: Andrea Dovizioso feels ‘devastating’ Marc Marquez has now absolutely ruined one MotoGP rider’s ‘ego’
How close did Andrea Dovizioso get to beating Marc Marquez?
Although Dovizioso had a few attempts at beating Marquez, he was never quite able to beat him. He just didn’t have the bike.
In 2017, they both had six wins, but the Italian rider had much less consistency, finishing on the podium four fewer times than his rival.
And that counted for a lot at the end of the campaign, as Marquez won by just 37 points, where another trophy or two would have made a huge difference.
But he did put him under more pressure than anyone else did in the 2010s for a sustained period of time. In fact, Dovizioso taught Marquez not to underestimate any opponent.
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