Marco Bezzecchi
MotoGP riders all have a ‘score to settle’ when they go up against Marc Marquez, Mat Oxley says. Oxley was speaking after Marquez’s intense battle with Enea Bastianini at the United States GP.
The Ducati rider successfully fought Tech3’s Bastianini for fifth place as he came back through the field after his long-lap penalty at the start of the race. They were separated by just a tenth of a second at the chequered flag.
In an interview afterwards, Marquez claimed that rivals increase their ‘intensity’ when they go up against him.
Do MotoGP riders battle harder when they’re up against Marc Marquez?
The champ was talking about his battle with Enea Bastianini in Austin
Marc Marquez faces ‘needle’ from MotoGP competitors
Of course, it was Bastianini who lost his seat at the Ducati factory team at the end of 2024 to make way for Marquez. But the added edge in this particular battle may have stemmed from an incident in qualifying.
The reigning world champion escaped without a penalty after being investigated for potentially impeding Bastianini during qualifying.
Marquez was sanctioned, however, for taking VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio out of the Sprint race. Di Giannantonio dismissed an apology afterwards, warning his fellow Desmosedici rider to ‘be careful tomorrow’.
- READ MORE: ‘No-one’ on the MotoGP grid has a bigger ‘grudge’ against Marc Marquez than 10-podium rider
It could be argued that Marquez already has a target on his back as one of the sport’s most successful riders, and his aggressive wheel-to-wheel style generates further ‘needle’.
“The Bastianini vs Marquez battle towards the end was the best moment of the race,” Oxley reflected on his podcast with Peter Bom. “Marquez screwed over Bastianini in qualifying. It was borderline.
“Every rider on the grid has got all kinds of reasons to want revenge over Marc.
“Every rider has got needle. They all want to take revenge on Marc for various reasons, either beating them up or embarrassing them – or both. Everybody’s got a score to settle with Marc Marquez.”
“Marc, especially, is high on everybody’s list for all reasons.”
Enea Bastianini on Marc Marquez battle: ‘I was fired up’
As if to demonstrate Oxley’s point, Bastianini says he felt a surge of motivation when Marquez came past him at the Circuit of the Americas.
He said, via Moto IT: “I have to say that when Marc overtook me, I was fired up, but that was because I knew I could pass the rider in front of me after a few laps. Marc was coming from behind, and I knew he had excellent pace.
“I didn’t worry about tyre wear and just tried to stay behind him. I was almost there, but obviously we’re still missing a few things.”
Marquez’s arrival in MotoGP predates every other rider on the grid and, despite his injury woes at the start of the decade, he leads the way for race starts among the current field with 210.
It is inevitable in such a long career that a rider will have run-ins with several competitors, and they can’t all be resolved immediately.
Receive racing news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
