Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez already knew why he was ‘struggling’ at the Dutch Grand Prix before his disappointing result in qualifying.
Heading into the Dutch Grand Prix weekend in Assen, seven-time MotoGP world champion Marquez was looking to make it a hat-trick of victories, having won in Hungary and Czechia.
However, his weekend started with disappointment as on Friday, Marquez only managed P10 in FP1 before putting in a much-improved performance in practice to finish sixth.
On Saturday, Marquez endured another tough session as his best lap time was only enough to qualify seventh for the Sprint and the main Grand Prix.
Meanwhile, Aprilia rider Jorge Martin secured pole position ahead of Ai Ogura and Marco Bezzecchi.
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Marc Marquez admits bike movement is a ‘problem’ at the Dutch Grand Prix
Although it came as a shock that Marquez only managed to put his Ducati in seventh place, the man himself has already explained why he was ‘struggling’ in Assen.
Speaking after Friday’s sessions, the 33-year-old admitted that he was in ‘risk-minimisation mode’ as he labelled the Assen track as ‘quite dangerous’.
Marquez stated that he is having trouble with the movement of his Ducati bike, especially the amount of ‘inertial forces’ he has to deal with while travelling at high speed.
He also predicted that he would likely be behind both Aprilia riders, as well as Fabio Di Giannantonio, Francesco Bagnaia and Pedro Acosta.
As reported by Spanish news outlet Marca, Marquez said: “I’m in ‘risk-minimisation mode’ because, for me, Assen is one of those tracks that—while safe—is also quite dangerous.
“If you crash, you’re going at high speed, and the gravel—I found this out the hard way last year—consists of big, hard stones that really hurt. I saw on Thursday that the run-off areas are the same; it’s a track that demands special attention.
“It’s nothing new: I struggled here before, and I’m struggling even more this year, but we met our goal of making the top 10. It moves around a lot, and the problem is that it’s moving like that at 250 km/h. The inertial forces are much greater, which is why I struggle more on this circuit.
“Here, sixth or seventh. There are the Aprilias, and then you have Di Giannantonio, Bagnaia, and Acosta; I’ll see if I can beat one of those three.”
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Heading into the weekend, Marquez has propelled himself right back into the 2026 title fight, having closed the gap to Bezzecchi to just 40 points following his back-to-back victories.
In truth, Marquez was handed a big advantage last time out after Bezzecchi was banned from the Czech Grand Prix on the back of hitting a trackside marshal.
With Bezzecchi back in action in Assen, Marquez will know that he faces a tough task in the Sprint and the main Grand Prix if he is to further reduce the points deficit.
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