Marc Márquez returned this year to battling for top positions in MotoGP after enduring significant challenges between 2020 and 2023, including injuries and Honda’s lack of competitiveness.
Riding for Gresini on a Ducati, the Spanish rider gradually found himself back at the front of the pack.
The difficult period he experienced led Márquez to realize that winning is not the norm – it is more common to finish in secondary positions, as only one out of more than 20 riders can win:
– I had gotten used to winning; it felt normal. When, from one day to the next, you experience the other side of the sport – when it changes without warning, you face an injury, and enter a negative spiral – that’s when you truly see that this can happen. And when you come back after the injury, you realize that winning isn’t normal. The normal is being second, third, or fourth; only one wins, and 20 lose.
That said, while Márquez now appreciates victories more, he admitted that the ambition to achieve more is always there: ‘I enjoy it much more now. It’s different, but you get used to everything. At the start of the season, I celebrated a second or third place like a victory; by the end of the season, second or third… why not the win? Athletes are ambitious; they’re never satisfied’.