Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez admits he was ‘suffering’ at the end of the Czech Grand Prix – but not enough for Ai Ogura to beat him.
Marquez started the Brno race from fourth and aggressively passed VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio on the opening lap. He followed Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia past Ogura and then traded places with the Italian.
Marquez got ahead of Bagnaia for good on lap 16 and controlled the race from there, seeing off another late offensive from Ogura as the sister Ducati fell away.
Marc Marquez: I was ‘suffering’, but Ai Ogura’s pace was ‘not enough’
Speaking immediately after the race in parc ferme, Marquez said it was ‘special’ to win on a clockwise circuit like Brno.
This race was regarded as a litmus test for Marquez’s fitness, more so than the slow, technical layout at Balaton Park.
Marc Marquez makes it back-to-back wins at the Czech Grand Prix! What was your main takeaway from the race?
Six weeks after undergoing two surgeries and missing the French GP, Marquez was physically ’empty’ in the closing stages of the race, but he knew he had Ogura under control.
“Super important victory in the right-corner circuit,” he said. “It’s something special I was looking for. You know that I never give up.
“In the last laps, I was suffering a lot. The bike was there, but I was empty. I tried to keep the pace, I saw that Ogura was pushing, but not enough to catch me.
“They were the longest six laps of the year – I will not say of my career! Crossing the line in first position, I’m super happy.”
Marquez is due to test Ducati’s 2027 bike behind closed doors on Monday before the second leg of the back-to-back at Assen next weekend. There’s no let-up in the schedule for the 33-year-old.
But the Spaniard is building strength and confidence all the time, with the gap to banned championship leader Marco Bezzecchi now down to 40 points.
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