Marco Bezzecchi
Jorge Lorenzo is surprised by how Ducati ace Marc Marquez has adapted his approach and now crashes “much less” to embark on a historic comeback in the 2026 title fight.
Marquez faced a whopping 102-point deficit to first place in the standings after round seven when Aprilia rival Marco Bezzecchi won the Italian Grand Prix amid the Ducati racer’s return from injury at Mugello. Yet after 11 rounds, Marquez is now 18 points adrift of Jorge Martin.
Aprilia ace Martin sits atop the standings at the summer break with 208 points to his name, while Trackhouse rider Ai Ogura ranks second with 194 and Marquez sits third with 190. An incredible run of woe for Bezzecchi has seen the Italian slip to fourth place with 186 points.
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Marc Marquez’s crash-averse approach after his injury issues astounds Jorge Lorenzo
Mat Oxley now believes Ogura is Marquez’s “most dangerous” title rival, given he has been the only rider able to compete with the seven-time champion’s consistency. Since Marquez sealed P7 on his return at the Italian GP, he has won three of the following four Grands Prix.
READ MORE: Marc Marquez’s biggest MotoGP title comebacks
The only blot on his copybook was when Marquez settled for P7 in the Dutch Grand Prix, as he knew that the TT Circuit Assen was too demanding for his body. And how Marquez views each race now amazes Lorenzo, as it shows how the 33-year-old has “grown in intelligence”.
“It’s a historic comeback,” Lorenzo said on DAZN, via Motosprint. “In this championship, you have to go fast, obviously, but above all, survive. I’m really struck by how much he’s grown in intelligence and maturity. He crashes much less.
“At Assen, [which is] probably the worst circuit for him, he resisted like a lion. He’s no longer as explosive or as dominant as he was at the start of his career. But, today, he is the most complete and intelligent rider on the grid.”
Some had started to wonder whether Marquez could still win the title after he fell to a 102-point deficit to Bezzecchi, having struggled at the start of the season due to a nerve issue in his shoulder. Marquez also missed the Grands Prix in France and Barcelona to have surgery.
Marquez tried to keep his shoulder operation a secret even from Ducati, but eventually told the Bologna Bullets that he had been riding with “one and a half arms” at the start of 2026. His crash with Bezzecchi in the 2025 Indonesian Grand Prix bent two screws from an earlier injury, which started to press against the radial nerve but only became clear upon his return.
The injury meant Marquez could not ride as naturally as he would have wanted, yet MotoGP is now seeing the Spaniard get better most weeks – especially on anti-clockwise circuits, as he can utilise his strength in left-hand corners, but is still gaining fitness in his right shoulder.
The three-week break before the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on August 7-9 now offers Marquez – and Bezzecchi after his surgery on a fractured shoulder – the chance to get fitter for the second half of the season. It will be interesting to see whether Marquez still adopts the crash-averse approach that has astounded Lorenzo once he has returned to full fitness.
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