Marco Bezzecchi
Marco Melandri thinks Marc Marquez could now be considering retiring from MotoGP after his latest injury, as he has seen a change in the Ducati ace’s demeanour in 2026.
Marquez will miss this week’s Catalan Grand Prix, for which Ducati have chosen not to name a replacement, after fracturing the fifth metatarsal in his right foot during the Sprint Race at the French Grand Prix. The Spaniard underwent surgery for the injury last Sunday in Madrid.
Given the need for the operation on his foot, Marquez also underwent another operation on his right shoulder to remove two screws, plus a bone fragment. Marquez’s crash in the 2025 Indonesian Grand Prix had shifted the screws inserted with his Latarjet surgery back in 2019.
Do you think Marc Marquez’s latest injury could see him retire at the end of 2026?
Marco Melandri thinks Marc Marquez’s injury and Ducati’s marketing commitments could see him retire
Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi has noted that “everything went well” with Marquez’s latest surgeries. The 33-year-old had already planned to have the operation on his shoulder after the Catalan GP, as a recent scan revealed the screws were pushing on the radial nerve.
READ MORE: Marc Marquez’s five biggest MotoGP crashes
However, Melandri has told MOW that he suspects that Marquez’s latest injury will likely be playing on the seven-time MotoGP champion’s mind and tempting him to consider retiring, especially given he has seen a change in the Spaniard’s demeanour in the paddock this year.
On top of Marquez struggling in the corners due to his shoulder injury, with the issues with the screw stopping him from riding consistently, Melandri suggests that Ducati’s marketing commitments have drained the Cervera native, who is also “not smiling” as much as he did.
“I believe that he was hoping deep down that things would improve, and that he would get better with time,” Melandri said. “Since things weren’t improving, after Jerez he probably went for a check-up and discovered this bent screw that risked damaging the nerve.
“Had he planned to have the surgery? A nerve isn’t a bone that you put a screw in and it’s fixed. A nerve, if you damage it, you never get it back.
“In short, there wasn’t much time to wait. And if he had planned it, he certainly wanted to fix things as soon as possible. In my opinion, this is the interpretation, and it’s very simple, but it always depends on how you want to look at things.
“The issue, in fact, is also another: did Ducati know or not? Is it possible that Marc, knowing he had to formalise the contract with Borgo Panigale, tried to keep everything under wraps?
“I’m not so sure he’s not wondering whether or not to continue. I see him tired, not smiling. As if last year he spent all his remaining mental and physical energy.
“I don’t know how much all these marketing commitments are weighing on him and draining him. If you think about it, he always managed to get very few done at Honda, while now with Ducati it’s different.”
If Marc Marquez retires after 2026, is Fabio Di Giannantonio now in the best position to replace him at Ducati?
Marquez’s future has been a topic for discussion in 2026, as the 73-time MotoGP Grand Prix winner is set to be out of contract at the end of the season. However, it is said that Marquez has already signed a new Ducati contract that will keep him in Borgo Panigale through 2028.
Ducati have not yet confirmed Marquez’s new contract as the Bologna Bullets and their rival manufacturers have agreed to delay announcing their 2027 line-ups until they have secured a new commercial deal with MotoGP. The current collective commercial deal lapses in 2026.
Yet should Marquez ultimately feel that his injuries, plus possibly Ducati’s marketing duties, are a sign that he should walk away, it would be hard for the Italian factory to prevent him from retiring. Ducati might even be left to rue their other moves if Marquez were to retire.
It is also widely believed that Francesco Bagnaia has signed with Aprilia for 2027 after Ducati signed Pedro Acosta of KTM to replace the two-time MotoGP champion. It is also now being said that VR46 rider Fabio Di Giannantonio will follow Alex Marquez to KTM for next season.
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