Marco Bezzecchi
In the behind-the-scenes footage of Ducati’s efforts at the Italian Grand Prix, Marc Marquez admitted to Francesco Bagnaia that he ‘gave up’ with 10 laps to go following his return from injury.
All in all, it was quite an impressive return to action for Marc Marquez at the Italian Grand Prix, with the reigning world champion securing a double points finish across both races, as well as the bragging rights as Ducati’s lead rider in qualifying.
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Of course, by his own standards, Marquez wasn’t satisfied with his P5 finish at the chequered flag in the Grand Prix.
However, it was somewhat of a miracle that he was fit enough to ride his GP26 in Mugello, considering the double bout of surgery he went through during his injury layoff.
He was cleared to ride on Thursday afternoon, just 18 days after his brutal crash in the Le Mans Sprint race.
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Marc Marquez admits he ‘gave up’ during Italian GP in behind-the-scenes exchange with Francesco Bagnaia
In Ducati’s post-Italian Grand Prix episode of Inside Ducati Lenovo Team on their official YouTube account, the factory’s star riders shared an exchange ahead of their respective media scrums, in which the Spaniard admitted he was forced to give up.
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Francesco Bagnaia approached his teammate to ask him, “Were you okay at the end? I mean with the rear?”
The Italian struggled in the latter stages of the race due to tyre wear, with his lengthy lead in the opening half of the race turning into him nearly falling out of podium contention.
In response, Marquez admitted, “I gave up with 10 laps to go… I couldn’t do it. Yeah, the rear dropped, but it was more me than the tyre.”
Bagnaia sympathised with his counterpart; not only is Mugello one of the most physically demanding circuits on the calendar, but it also reached 30 degrees Celsius over the course of the race weekend. He added, “At the end, in such hot weather, it was so physical.”
Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia were stunned by Ai Ogura’s pace in Mugello
Continuing their exchange within Mugello’s media centre, Marquez highlighted how he noticed that Bagnaia was also experiencing some difficulties in the latter stages of the race, saying, “I saw you were struggling…”
The pair of world champions then pointed out how impressive Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura was in those final laps. Despite spending the majority of the race in P7, the Japanese rider came alive in the closing laps, overtaking Marquez, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Pedro Acosta.
An ambitious move at the final corner of the race saw him try to snatch Bagnaia’s podium away from him, but a cool cutback from the Italian secured his second consecutive P3 finish in the premier class.
Still, both of Ducati’s factory riders were impressed with Ogura’s pace, with Bagnaia saying, “Ogura overtook me, he was four seconds behind!” Marquez replied with, “Ogura overtook me, too; he was like an aeroplane!”
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