Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez is back in contention for the 2026 MotoGP title, and he has had his say on who is in the picture to become the world champion.
Marquez had been downplaying his title chances as he struggled with his shoulder injury from 2025. A loose screw was causing him nerve damage, and Aprilia’s step forward in development was also hampering the Ducati rider.
After undergoing surgery following his crash at Le Mans, the 33-year-old has been slowly regaining his fitness, and his results have improved. Victories at Balaton Park and Brno and the misfortune of his rivals have put him right back in the title picture.
Here’s our rider ratings after a chaotic Dutch Grand Prix! 👀 Which scores would you change?
Marc Marquez sees five MotoGP riders who could become world champions in 2026
Marquez now admits he is in the title fight after his recent success. He sits in fifth place, 40 points off the top spot after finishing P7 at the Dutch Grand Prix.
More points could have been on the table for the Ducati rider at Assen, but contact with Fabio Di Giannantonio resulted in both being penalised for cutting the final chicane, demoting Marquez from sixth to seventh.
Ai Ogura won his first MotoGP race at Assen and has subsequently leapfrogged Marquez in the standings. Jorge Martin is the new championship leader after Marco Bezzecchi crashed out heavily on lap three.
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Talking about the title fight via Mundo Deportivo, Marquez sees ‘five’ potential riders that could win the championship. He says everyone is talking about him and Bezzecchi, but he also mentioned Martin and Ogura, and while directly naming him, he suggests Di Giannantonio is in contention as well.
“Today I could have finished fifth and ended up seventh, but leaving the Netherlands injury-free is a positive – we’ll take finishing on the bike and see if we can do better in the next races,” he said.
“We’ll see. Here, number 37 was supposed to be Bezzecchi’s, but he didn’t deliver. People talk about Bezzecchi and Marc, but there’s Jorge Martín leading the standings, and Ogura, who won today and has been scoring strongly in all the recent races.
“There aren’t just two names, but five who could become world champions.”
Name every rider who can still win the 2026 MotoGP title
Marc Marquez has changed his mind about his 2026 title rivals
At the start of the season, Marquez named four title rivals he believed could win the 2026 championship. Among them was Bezzecchi, and the Aprilia rider looked in control in the early stages, with four wins and six top-two finishes in the opening seven races.
But the Italian has not scored any points in the last three Grand Prix. Marquez’s mind games worked perfectly against Bezzecchi at Assen, as he felt he was supposed to get the maximum 37 points from the weekend – he walked away empty-handed.
Marquez also named brother Alex Marquez, Ducati teammate Pecco Bagnaia and future Ducati teammate Pedro Acosta as title rivals, but they seem to have faded out of the championship picture.
Alex Marquez has been ravaged by injury, while Bagnaia is still having trouble finding feeling from the Ducati. Acosta has been let down by KTM’s machinery, with several mechanical faults and a nerve issue with his fingers costing him at the front.
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