- Alex Marquez wins by nearly two seconds over Marco Bezzecchi, claiming Ducati’s first victory of the 2026 season
- World champion Marc Marquez crashes on lap two and openly admits he is not riding at last year’s level
- Francesco Bagnaia retires with a technical issue as the Ducati factory team’s podium drought extends to nine grands prix
After three rather unremarkable season-opening rounds, Alex Marquez left the entire field behind at the Spanish GP in Jerez. The Gresini rider took the lead midway through the second lap and extended his advantage to nearly two seconds over Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi by the chequered flag. It was Ducati’s first victory of the 2026 MotoGP season, and it was the satellite team that delivered what the factory squad has so far been unable to achieve. Yet the post-race reactions revealed that nobody in the premier class truly knows where they stand right now.
Alex Marquez: Between Euphoria and Sobering Reality
Anyone expecting explanations from the winner after the race was left disappointed. Alex Marquez simply could not say why he was suddenly the fastest man on track in Jerez. “What happened? Good question. I don’t have an answer. I think there’s something magical about Jerez. I’ve been flying since Friday. Honestly, I don’t know why,” the 30-year-old admitted after the race.
Yet the Grand Prix went entirely to plan for the Gresini rider. From fifth on the grid, he worked his way up to second on the opening lap and shortly afterwards passed his brother Marc at Turn 6. From that moment on, he controlled the race at will. He only pushed when necessary and otherwise replicated exactly the pace from Friday practice, the Spaniard explained.
Remarkably, Alex Marquez spoke openly about his doubts. In the first three races of the season, the 2025 vice-champion had been a midfield runner at best. Ducati had made minor changes to the GP26 to improve braking performance, but Marquez himself conceded as early as Friday that the familiar problems persisted. Rather than focusing on the technical side, he had primarily worked on his mindset. “I spent four weeks talking with the team and analysing my riding style. It became clear that I need to ride around the problems more instead of thinking about them, rather than always complaining about the same things in the garage,” he described his new approach.
Whether this mental shift was truly the key or whether the Jerez circuit simply masked the weaknesses of the Ducati GP26 remains an open question. Alex Marquez had also won at Jerez the previous season, recording his very first MotoGP victory there. “This weekend felt very similar to last year. But it’s too early to judge. We need to wait for Le Mans, Montmelo and so on to see whether this is real or just a special day,” the winner said, putting his own success into perspective.
Despite the dominant victory, the Gresini rider takes a realistic view of the competitive order. In the championship standings, he sits seventh, 48 points behind leader Bezzecchi. “We need to keep pushing. Tomorrow’s test is already important. I think Aprilia still has half a step on us,” was his sober assessment ahead of the Monday test in Jerez.
Marc Marquez and Another Jerez Setback
Less than 24 hours after a fortunate sprint race victory on Saturday, there was no trace of celebration left for the reigning world champion. Marc Marquez crashed on the second lap of the Grand Prix at the fast right-hander of Turn 11 while running second behind his brother. The nine-time world champion’s Ducati flipped over several times and was a total write-off. Marquez himself walked away uninjured.
The 33-year-old appeared baffled afterwards. “I even braked earlier than on the previous lap. The corner speed and lean angle were the same. And yet I crashed,” he analysed. The only explanation he could offer was brief: “I must have done something wrong.”
A possible cause came from none other than Marco Bezzecchi, who was riding directly behind Marquez at the time of the crash. The Aprilia rider had observed the incident from close range and pointed to the strong wind in Jerez. “The only difference I noticed was that the wind there was extremely strong. During the weekend, even yesterday in the rain, we had no wind at all. Today it was a typical Jerez day: sunny but very windy,” the championship leader explained. The wind had also caused him to make a mistake at Turn 8, costing him second place to Alex Marquez.
On ServusTV, former MotoGP rider Stefan Bradl offered a far harsher assessment of the crash. He said Marquez was once again behaving “like a 14-year-old” and had wanted too much too early in the race. “A mistake that simply must not happen,” the German pundit criticised, adding: “This mentality is what made him a nine-time world champion. But the problem is that these moves have also cost him several titles and victories.”
Marquez, however, firmly disagreed with that assessment. Unlike last year, when he also crashed early at Jerez, he had not been trying to attack the rider ahead this time. “Last year was different. I pushed too hard because I wanted to attack the rider in front of me. But this year I didn’t want to fight with Alex. I knew he was on a different level,” the Ducati factory rider clarified.
Marquez Openly Admits Lack of Form
More concerning than the crash itself was the admission Marquez made afterwards. Even without the DNF, a victory would have been out of reach on Sunday, he conceded. “I would have finished third or fourth at best. Alex’s pace was untouchable.” And the world champion went further: “Last year, it’s true that I was riding in an easy way, always in a good position on the bike. And this year I can’t manage that. And I’m also crashing too much.”
Pedro Acosta, himself one of the championship rivals, suspected a connection to the shoulder injury Marquez sustained in a collision caused by Bezzecchi at the Indonesian GP last September. It looks like he hasn’t been riding as comfortably as he did last year since Indonesia,” the Tech3 KTM rider commented. Marquez himself insisted that physically he was back to a good level, but admitted: “Right now we are riding neither at our best level nor do we have the pace to fight for the world championship. When you’re not on the podium on Sundays, it’s very difficult.”
His deficit to Bezzecchi in the championship standings now sits at 44 points. Since clinching the title last September in Japan, Marquez has not stood on a Grand Prix podium.
Bagnaia and Another Blow for the Factory Team
While Marc Marquez’s retirement could at least be attributed to a riding error, his teammate Francesco Bagnaia was forced to park the Desmosedici GP26 due to a technical problem. After a poor start from ninth on the grid, the double world champion found himself down in 13th after the opening lap. Over the next five laps he fought back to ninth, only for his race to end at half-distance.
According to Bagnaia, the issue was at the front of the motorcycle: he could no longer slow the bike sufficiently at the end of the main straight. “It felt bad from the very start of the race and got worse and worse. In the end, I simply couldn’t scrub off the speed,” the 29-year-old Italian described. The team was still working after the race to identify the exact cause of the failure.
Memories of the previous day resurfaced, when Jorge Martin had been forced to retire his Aprilia in the sprint with a glowing brake disc and no stopping power. Bagnaia stressed, however, that his problem was of a different nature.
The DNF dropped Bagnaia one position in the championship standings. He now trails Trackhouse rider Ai Ogura by 14 points and leads Tech3 KTM’s Enea Bastianini by just four. Combined with Marc Marquez’s crash, the Ducati factory team endured one of its darkest race days in recent memory. The once-dominant force in MotoGP has now gone nine consecutive grands prix without a podium finish.
One silver lining from Bagnaia’s perspective was Alex Marquez’s victory. The factory rider intends to learn from it: “He’s made clear progress with the GP26. We’re going to analyse that now and try to replicate it.”
Jorge Martin: Strong Start, Then Stagnation
Jorge Martin also delivered a performance of two halves in Jerez. The Aprilia factory rider started the race with a grid penalty of one row after being caught dawdling on the racing line on Friday. That did not stop the Spaniard from producing one of his trademark strong opening laps. After the first tour, the timing sheets showed him in fourth, right behind championship leader Bezzecchi.
“The start wasn’t really a big surprise. I always get away well on the Aprilia, and the first corner worked out perfectly,” Martin described the beginning of the race. On the opening lap he overtook both Fabio Di Giannantonio and Johann Zarco. “The entire first lap was sensational. At that moment I briefly thought: Maybe I can actually win this!”
But the thought faded quickly. Rear tyre grip was lacking, which hampered Martin under both acceleration and braking. “Then it quickly became a boring race, because there was no way forward and I had enough of a gap behind me,” he summed up his remaining 24 laps. He inherited fourth place, which he had temporarily lost to Di Giannantonio, after Marc Marquez’s crash.
Martin crossed the line in fourth, nine seconds behind winner Alex Marquez. Notably, his fastest race lap was just 0.008 seconds off Bezzecchi’s best. In the championship, Martin remains second, though his deficit to Bezzecchi grew from four to eleven points.
Asked about the technological battle between Aprilia and Ducati, Martin struck a diplomatic tone. In Jerez, riders from both manufacturers had occupied the top six positions. “My view is that the bikes certainly have differences, but overall they deliver very similar performance. I think in the current situation, it’s the riders who make the difference,” the former Ducati rider explained.
Monday Test as a Pivotal Moment for Ducati
After the Jerez weekend, the 2026 MotoGP season finds itself at a fascinating juncture. Aprilia dominates with Marco Bezzecchi leading the championship on 101 points, followed by Martin on 90 and Di Giannantonio on 71. Ducati may have secured the GP win through Alex Marquez, but the factory team around Marc Marquez and Bagnaia is mired in a genuine crisis.
The Monday test in Jerez will be a pivotal moment for all involved. Alex Marquez wants to find out whether his Jerez form can carry over to other circuits. Marc Marquez needs to rediscover confidence in the GP26 in dry conditions. “We need to improve the feeling with the bike. That will be decisive,” the world champion stressed. And Bagnaia hopes to extract insights from the data of his victorious Gresini teammate to refine his own setup.
Whether Jerez was merely a lone bright spot for Ducati or the start of a genuine fightback will become clear at the earliest at the next round in Le Mans.
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