Marc Marquez made the 2025 MotoGP title look easy, clinching it with five rounds to go, but Davide Tardozzi believes another rider had something to prove last season as well.
Ducati team manager Tardozzi watched Marquez dominate, standing on the top step of the podium 25 times across 11 Grand Prix wins and 14 Sprint victories before his injury cut his campaign short. It was a remarkable run that left little doubt about who was in control of the season.
Marquez wrapped up the riders’ championship earlier than anyone before him, but an injury in Indonesia soon followed. The Spaniard needed shoulder surgery after a collision on Lap 1 of round 18/22.
Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi collided with Marquez at Turn 7 of the Indonesian Grand Prix after trying to recover from a poor start. Despite this setback, Marquez has already resumed training and is expected to be fully fit ahead of pre-season testing.
Davide Tardozzi surprised people are still questioning Alex Marquez
Marquez’s injury saw his lead at the top of the standings drop from 201 points after Japan, where he was crowned champion, down to a 78-point gap over his brother Alex by season’s end.
The Marquez brothers made history as the first siblings to finish first and second in the premier class. Even so, Tardozzi is surprised that some still don’t recognise Alex’s abilities, despite his strong performances throughout 2025.
“He’s won two world championships, he’s made it clear that he’s not [only] Marc’s brother, that he’s Alex Marquez, an extraordinary rider, and we’re very happy that he’s racing with a Ducati.”
Ducati are also working on contract renewals for its factory pair of Marc Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia. Both riders’ deals are up at the end of this year but will be central to the Italian team again for its 2026 campaign.
Alex Marquez’s 2025 season ended with a career-best finish, and a first MotoGP victory
Before 2025, Alex Marquez hadn’t finished higher than eighth in the MotoGP championship. But he was handed the Ducati Desmosedici GP24 that Jorge Martin had used to win the title with Pramac the previous year. The 29-year-old also went into last season still searching for his first MotoGP win.
But Alex picked up his maiden Grand Prix victory at Jerez in 2025, and opened the year by finishing second in nine of the first ten Sprint Races, as well as five of the first ten Grands Prix. He also won the Sprint at Silverstone in what was his only non-second-place result during that stretch.
A collision with KTM’s Pedro Acosta left him with a fractured left hand during the Dutch Grand Prix at Assen, which required surgery and disrupted his rhythm. That period also saw him start making mistakes that had been rare earlier in the campaign.
He’d already collided with VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio in Qatar back in round four but generally kept things clean until taking out Honda’s Joan Mir during round 12 at Brno. He did beat Marc on merit to win the Catalan GP though.
While some felt he raced more aggressively against Francesco Bagnaia than Marc during Mugello, others thought he held back too much against Marc later on, particularly during their scrap for second place behind Acosta.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
