Marco Bezzecchi
The MotoGP media is starting to think that Marc Marquez is not being truthful about his injuries after suffering several complications in 2026.
It has been a difficult year for the Ducati rider as he spent the winter recovering from the shoulder injury he sustained at Mandalika last year. Marquez was clearly feeling the effects in the opening races before he suffered a right forearm scrape at COTA.
Images from the Spanish Grand Prix paddock showed the true effects of the injury. But the home hero insisted he was close to 100% fit, and Marquez told Ducati to stop talking about fitness, but it seemed to be a problem again.
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While he did claim pole position and the Sprint win, in rather controversial fashion, the Ant of Cervera did not have the pace of his brother Alex Marquez on Sunday, who controlled the field to win. Marc Marquez crashed out on lap two chasing the Gresini rider.
Alex was surprised by Marc’s data as he noticed that he was not as fast in the left-hand corners as he usually is. Whether it was him, the bike, or both, it is clear that the Spaniard is struggling, and the media do not think he is truthful about his condition.
Marc Marquez admitted his injuries are worse than expected at Jerez
Journalist Simon Patterson shared how Marquez revealed the true extent of his injuries in Jerez, having played down the effects before the Grand Prix.
“So it is worth noting at this point that Marc Marquez habitually lies to the media about his physical condition. It’s a matter of fact, it is a matter of fact,” he said via The Race MotoGP Podcast.
“He did it this week, because he spent all of the Texan weekend downplaying the injuries from the crash he had on Friday in practice, and then arrived here on Thursday and immediately kind of showed off to us the massive hole in his arm and admitted that yeah, it’d been a whole lot worse than he had let on at the time.
“So, he does, and we’ve seen this over and over again. Marc habitually downplays the severity of his injuries.
“I don’t think he does it because he likes lying to the media. I think he does it because he is genuinely, in his defence, a racer who doesn’t like making excuses. and that’s quite good.
“But it also means you basically can’t trust a word he says whenever he tells us that he’s fully fit or he’s not fully fit or he’s better than he was or whatever.”
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MotoGP riders and key figures remain concerned about Marc Marquez’s condition
The Spaniard has had a month to regain his fitness, yet Jorge Lorenzo does not think Marquez has recovered. He sees that his arm is still causing him problems as his wait for a Grand Prix podium in 2026 continues.
Marco Melandri saw Marquez at his ‘physical limit’ at Jerez. He cannot see him improving any further after failing to show signs of progression after the April break.
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Pedro Acosta thinks Marquez is riding unnaturally in 2026, as a result of his injuries back in 2025. He is clearly struggling to ride the bike the same way as he once did, thus opening the door for Aprilia to take advantage.
Marco Bezzecchi is now 44 points clear of Marquez heading into Le Mans. There are still 18 rounds to go, but the Ducati rider has a huge task ahead of him now to defend his crown.
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