Alex Marquez says he \u201clikes that people will put me as one of the title contenders\u201d in MotoGP 2026, because \u201cit\u2019s what we deserve\u201d after the season he has put together.<\/p>\n
The Gresini Ducati<\/a> rider has put in his best season ever in the premier class in 2025, having won three grands prix and two sprints on his way to second in the standings.<\/p>\n Consistently the best Ducati rider behind runaway world champion Marc Marquez<\/a> this season, Alex Marquez<\/a>\u2019s form has earned him a factory-spec Desmosedici for next year.<\/p>\n As the season has gone on, Marquez\u2019s attitude towards his results has shifted, with the 29-year-old admitting he is less happy with podium finishes now compared to earlier this year.<\/p>\n But he sees this as a good thing, as it means he will go into 2026 as one of the favourites to fight for the title, which he feels he has earned.<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n \u201cI felt it already,\u201d he said on Thursday at the Valencia Grand Prix when asked if he felt like his result expectations were shifting.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the beginning of the year, I was super happy to be on the podium.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, if we are second, third, I\u2019m happy, but not like at the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I think it will be the same next year. So, what we need to do is work.<\/p>\n \u201cI like that people will put me in the reference for \u201926, as one of the title contenders. It\u2019s what we deserve for this \u201925 season.<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n \u201cAnd we need to take the opportunity in a good way. We don\u2019t need to change the mentality, because I think that will be wrong. But I\u2019m accepting that pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n With Marc Marquez absent since Indonesia due to injury, Alex Marquez says he has found new motivation in trying to fill his shoes as the reference rider on the grid.<\/p>\n \u201cLess people outside the motor home. A lot of positive things,\u201d he joked, when asked if he noticed a difference with his older brother not in the paddock.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s something that makes things interesting, because when you have a reference all season, and then that reference is not here, it\u2019s quite interesting to see.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s something that motivates me to be the reference, to be the guy who sets the limit on track.<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n \u201cSo, that changed quite a lot, but it\u2019s something that this year – compared to a few years ago – I accept much better and I\u2019m more relaxed.\u201d<\/p>\n Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alex Marquez says he \u201clikes that people will put me as one of the title contenders\u201d in MotoGP…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[8454,64,63,17197,8455,4280,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-281957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-alex-marquez","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-ducati","12":"tag-gresini-racing-motogp","13":"tag-marc-marquez","14":"tag-motor","15":"tag-motor-sports","16":"tag-motosport","17":"tag-motosports","18":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}