Marc Marquez’s excellence in the 2025 MotoGP campaign has drawn praise from some of the biggest names in Spanish sport, including Rafael Nadal, Pau Gasol and Alexia Putellas.
During the recently concluded season, Marc Marquez returned to the blisteringly hot form that won him six titles in seven years at Honda by adding another to his collection and a first with the factory Ducati team.
As one of the best MotoGP riders to ever race for Honda, the Spaniard wasn’t sure whether he would be able to return to his finest form after suffering a horrific injury at the beginning of 2020.
His move to Gresini for 2024 was Marquez’s way of seeing if he still had what it takes to compete with the very best.
After a successful stint there, the 32-year-old got the call-up from Borgo Panigale, and the rest is history.
Spanish sporting legends pay tribute to Marc Marquez after another record-breaking MotoGP season in 2025
Just one day after receiving an award for his title-winning season, DAZN premiered a documentary about Marquez’s return to the top from the depths of his injury nightmare.
The first episode of the four-part series featured insights from Spanish sporting legends such as Rafa Nadal, Fernando Alonso, Pau Gasol, Andres Iniesta, and Alexia Putellas, who praised the resilience of the nine-time Grand Prix world champion.
Nadal, who boasts 22 major titles in tennis, said via Diario AS, “He has won everything he had to win and much more, and he has maintained the desire to endure hardship and persevere.”
Two-time NBA champion and six-time All-Star, Gasol, added his two cents, saying, “The higher you are, the harder the fall.
“Coming down from those heights is much more noticeable, and it is more difficult to keep your feet on the ground and get back up again.”
Putellas, who plays for Marquez’s favourite football team, FC Barcelona, also joined in with the praise of the seven-time MotoGP champion.
She said, “When you’re in competition mode, you only focus on the next race, and you reach limits that, over time, you realise may not have been healthy or appropriate.”
The Marquez brothers could replicate a feat of the Gasol brothers in 2026
After the Toronto Raptors defeated the Golden State Warriors over six games in the 2019 NBA Finals, the Gasol brothers, consisting of Pau and Marc, became the first pair of brothers to have both won an NBA championship.
Pau’s first championship feat came ten years prior, when the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Boston Celtics over five games with the help of Kobe Bryant’s formidable scoring and Phil Jackson’s leadership.
The Marquez brothers could replicate the rare feat in MotoGP next season, if Alex Marquez is successful in dethroning Marc at the top of the grid’s pecking order.
They would become the first set of brothers to each hold a world title in the premier class of Grand Prix motorcycle racing, and be cemented as the most formidable sibling duo in the history of motorsports.
- READ MORE: Alex Marquez won’t reveal Marc Marquez’s weaknesses ‘until his brother retires’, Alex Barros says
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