Marco Melandri blows everyone away on Marc Marquez
After the first two rounds of the MotoGp World Championship, Marc Marquez’s situation is decidedly very different from last year: currently the Catalan is fifth in classification 36 lengths behind leader Marco Bezzecchi and the initial results tell of a season that started icon more than one difficulty. If in 2025 he had dominated from the outset with three wins in the Sprints and two in the long races in the first three rounds, this year he had to settle for a first and second place in the Sprints and a fourth and fifth place in the Sunday races.
A start to the season below expectations, which surprised among others even a former MotoGP star, Marco Melandri. The former MotoGp and Superbike rider has no doubts about Marquez’s qualities but emphasizes one aspect, in an interview with GPOne: “He remains the most complete rider ever, although perhaps he is less explosive than last year. The World Championship? He remains the favorite, but if Marco Bezzecchi manages himself well he could seriously enter the fight.”
According to Melandri, in addition to the physical condition of Marc Marquez,are still not quite okay after last year’s Mandalika injury, there are also other factors: “More than the injury, I think the mental effort required to regain the title took its toll, because in my opinion he gave more than 110 percent in 2025,” explained the 2002 world champion in the 250 class.
For the former Ravenna rider, in any case, the outcome of this season could also lead to a surprise decision by the number 93: “If Marquez wins, he could also decide to retire at the end of the season. That’s how I see it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he quit after his 10th overall title.”
The future, in short, remains an open construction site. Marquez is still not one hundred percent (as, by the way, his post-Easter social photo showed, in which the presence of the brace on his right arm was evident even during daily activities), Ducati is waiting, and the World Championship has just begun. The next races will tell if this complicated start is just a parenthesis or the beginning of a new chapter for the ‘Cabroncito’.
