Ducati, Marc Marquez: “My only goal was to avoid getting injured”

Ducati rider Marc Marquez spoke after finishing seventh in the Dutch Grand Prix. At Assen—certainly not one of his favorite tracks—the Catalan rider and reigning world champion chose to limit the damage. “It was a long race; I started out knowing that my position would be somewhere between sixth, seventh, and eighth. Looking at the race, maybe fifth place was the best I could hope for, but in the end we finished seventh. I rode conservatively, waiting until the last ten laps to push a little harder, and in fact I did just that, even though I was on the soft tires. But I rode smoothly and cleanly, just trying to finish the race.”

“The important thing was to leave the Netherlands without any injuries,” Marquez admitted. “When you can’t, you can’t. And today I couldn’t. I left the Netherlands injury-free. That’s what I was aiming for on this track, because it was clear all weekend: anyone who crashed and went into the gravel was taking a big risk. This is a beautiful track, but I already said it last year: the gravel here isn’t good.”

“There’s too big a step between the asphalt and the gravel. The same thing happened to Bezzecchi today; as soon as he hit the run-off area, he started rolling. I realized this on Friday and told myself: I want to get out of here without getting hurt,” according to Gpone.

The penalty at the end of the race: “I accept it, I’ll keep my mouth shut and race. End of story. Does everyone want to battle me? If so, I’m proud, because it means they want to pass me. But let’s hope we can improve in the next races, so maybe I won’t always have to be on the defensive and can be more aggressive. That’s racing.”