Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez is not having the 2026 season that he would have expected thus far, but he has shown signs of his true quality despite his struggles with injury.
The Ant of Cervera is without a Grand Prix podium after the first three rounds of 2026. Marquez did win the Sprint in Brazil, but for the most part, he has been no match for Aprilia and Marco Bezzecchi, who has won the last five consecutive races.
Marquez has not been riding at 100% all year, with his right shoulder injury from Mandalika in 2025 still causing him problems. That was made apparent in Austin, when he himself admitted that the complications were still there.
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The Ducati rider crashed in practice, sustaining a knock to his right forearm, before getting outqualified by teammate Francesco Bagnaia and taking out Fabio Di Giannantonio in the Sprint. Marquez finished P5 on Sunday after serving a long lap penalty.
After the race, Marquez admitted he was struggling, stating that he and the GP26 were ‘critical’. It has not been the start to his title defence that the Spaniard would have wanted, but there have been clear indications that he is not entirely lost.
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Juan Martinez says Marc Marquez’s overtakes in Austin prove his ‘DNA remains intact’
Marquez dropped down the order with his long lap penalty, rendering his chances of a podium, let alone a win, slim to none. But that did not stop the 33-year-old from charging up through the midfield.
He enjoyed a strong battle with Bagnaia and Tech’s Enea Bastianini, eventually getting past the latter for fifth. He may have missed the podium, but as ex-crew chief Juan Martinez notes, he produced great overtaking in ‘complicated’ areas.
It was evidence that Marquez’s ‘DNA remains intact’, despite a tough start to the year that sees him sitting P5 in the championship standings. Martinez analysed, via quotes from Motosan: “It’s clear that when you look at the standings and see Marc in fifth, you say he didn’t have a good race.
“When you analyse the pace and see those two mid-range, two low-range speeds in the final phase, which was the pace Bezzecchi demonstrated to win, it makes you think that Marc is more a matter of aligning all the small details.”
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Martinez notes seeing Marquez struggling in the early stages of the race: “We saw him with more problems at the beginning, where he wasn’t completely relaxed, I didn’t see him as fluid enough.”
However, as the United States GP went on, the Ducati rider grew more into the race, and this is where Martinez saw him more like his usual self.
“He was finding his rhythm, he understood exactly how to communicate with his bike,” he added. “We have seen him make many overtakes in very complicated places and situations. Marc’s DNA remains intact.”
The one-month break in the season comes at the right time for the Spaniard, as he has the time to properly recover from his injuries. Marquez’s forearm injury could be a bigger problem than his shoulder, however, and it is something to monitor.
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