Marc Márquez Gets Another at Misano

Back to normal at Misano? Normal racing on a normal surface, after the surprise new asphalt plus nightly rain at Aragón? Nope! When droplets threatened rain, point leader Jorge Martín (Pramac Ducati) was first to pit for his rain bike. Rain stopped, Martín pitted again to undo his mistake, rejoining to finish 15th, for which he received one point.

Marc Márquez (Gresini Ducati) gave the matter a thought before acting: “I will follow the local guy, and the local guy stayed out.”

The “local guy,” Francesco Bagnaia, said, “On Thursday it was raining in the paddock and the smell was heavy. So it’s a thing that I know well, and it was not smelling like this.

“I thought, ‘OK, it will be light rain,’ and I decided to continue [on slicks] and it was the right choice.” Márquez did the same. Franco Morbidelli, going so much quicker lately, crashed out on lap seven.

Martín’s mistake cost him 19 points, cutting his championship lead from 26 to 7 over Bagnaia.

Two other causations now pushed the outcome: Light rain is mixed conditions in which Márquez excels. Bagnaia had ridden all weekend with painkillers for his crash injuries from before: “As soon as I took them I could brake harder, force corner entries.”

After the Saturday sprint (Martín won by 1.5 seconds, followed by Bagnaia, then Morbidelli) he said, “I think tomorrow maybe I’ll have to take something stronger as well.”

Upon seeing Martín out of the running, Bagnaia related his internal conversation: “OK, I don’t have to crash because he will take zero points. Then Marc arrived, because he was the bravest in terms of pushing in the rain.”

Márquez took the lead.

Bagnaia said, “I tried to overtake him back, but I didn’t have the chance. Misano passing opportunities are few.

“When I decided to finish second [with] four, five laps to go, I lost the concentration to be superfast on track and I started to think more on the pain.

“In one moment, all of the painkiller effect finished.”

There it is on the lap analysis: Bagnaia stayed within fractions of a second from Márquez until lap 21 when Márquez’s lead jumped to 1.265 seconds.

Enea Bastianini, third by 5.4 seconds, said, “Once the rain came and I saw Franco’s crash I thought about pushing without overdoing.

“Toward the end, with the soft rear tire, I felt the drop of grip but…I was able to finish on the podium.”

Fourth and fifth, Brad Binder (KTM) and Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati) were 14 and nearly 17 seconds back.

Thinking about these results I recalled a conversation former Cycle Editor Cook Neilson had with Kenny Roberts in 1977 or ‘78. Connecticut clubman-turned-national-rider Mike Baldwin was impressing everyone, so Neilson asked Kenny’s thoughts.

“Of the three things it takes to win, he’s got one of them.”

“And what’s that?” Neilson asked.

“He’s fast.”

Martín is very fast. Márquez at this point may or may not be just as fast, but he applied analytical thought to arrive at his decision to stay out: “The local guys (Bagnaia, Bastianini) may know something I don’t. I’ll follow them and not Martín.”

Also, there is a saying in the aviation business: “The pilot who hesitates will probably survive.” Your first response to an emergency may be superficial: Review what you know and act on the result.” Experience at work.

Speaking of Martín’s mistake, Márquez said, “…the strategy of Martín was not very crazy because if in that lap it continued the same amount of water, he would [have had] the best strategy.”

Marc’s two wins have triggered the usual “Will you take the title?” babble. Get those clicks!

“You never know,” he replied.

“If we want to fight for the championship, we cannot start ninth on the grid (he had crashed in qualifying).”

Fabio Quartararo was able to finish seventh—a big step over previous results. Álex Rins ran the 2025 engine in the Monday test; it appeared to be good for over half a second. On the other hand, he finished last on Sunday. Quartararo’s Monday test comment was, “I think we have found a good way to proceed with this new chassis.” He was fifth in the test. Hm, that either means something or it doesn’t.

Although Honda brought new aero, its riders were 18th through 21st on Monday.

Here are the new points standings:

The second Misano MotoGP (the “Emilia-Romagna”) comes in two weeks.