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Champion Marc Marquez faltered: from lap 4 onwards, it was simply a matter of riding to survive

MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez’s dazzling start fizzled out very quickly. Over the short distance, the Ducati-Lenovo rider ran into serious trouble. Even ‘MM93’s’ airbag was deployed.

MotoGP

08.08.2026 - 20:19

This article is an automatically generated English version. The original article was published in German.

Gefahr naht: Marc Marquez wurde von Acosta und Mir geschnappt
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Starting from sixth on the grid, Marc Marquez had put himself in a good position for the two races on the British Isles – after all, the multiple world champion also needs to hold his own in the tight World Championship battle and close the gap on the leaders. In the Sprint, at least, the plan went completely awry.

After a strong start, in which the champion was immediately able to overtake the Aprilia riders Fernandez and Bezzecchi, the number 93 Ducati held onto 4th place for only a short while before beginning a rapid slide down the order. In the final stages, Marc Marquez was literally swallowed up by the field. Bezzecchi, his brother, Acosta, Morbidelli and Mir overtook him with ease. Marquez defended 9th place – and with it the final World Championship point – by a matter of centimetres against Diogo Moreira. Instead of moving up the World Championship standings, he found himself slipping down the table once again. What had seemed impossible before the trip to England had come to pass: Marco Bezzecchi is back in third place after just the Sprint – ahead of Marc Marquez.

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What had happened? Like all riders on soft rear tyres, Marc Marquez suffered from a sharp drop in grip. But whilst the Aprilia riders managed to control the phenomenon, it took its toll on the champion. “We experienced a completely new situation for a sprint today. Losing tyre performance so quickly and so drastically – we’ve never seen anything like it before. I wasn’t the only one – but for me it started first, as early as lap 4,” said Marquez, describing the sprint.

The Spaniard continued: “It was purely a race for survival. When I was in sixth place, I was at massive risk of crashing, so I just tried to finish the race. The strange thing is, it wasn’t classic tyre wear – the compound simply stopped working.”

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Wild ride with airbag deployment

Curiously, Marc Marquez slid around the track in such a way that even the airbag in the world champion’s leathers was deployed. “Yes, that’s correct. There was a massive slide, and that’s when it happened. But it wasn’t a huge problem. The only important thing was that I didn’t crash.”

Marc Marquez did not yet have an answer as to why his brother Alex, riding a bike with the same specifications, struggled far less, whilst his team-mate Bagnaia and Fabio Di Giannantonio also had significant problems. “At least we’ve got a lot of data to analyse, especially Alex’s, so that, in the best-case scenario, we can find a solution and be in a better position on Sunday.”

Following the Ducati factory team’s setback, a night shift in front of the screens – including for the Michelin engineers – is inevitable.

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