{"id":587067,"date":"2026-04-05T12:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T12:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/587067\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T12:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T12:58:09","slug":"motogp-winner-wouldnt-be-surprised-if-marc-marquez-retires-after-next-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/587067\/","title":{"rendered":"MotoGP winner \u201cwouldn\u2019t be surprised\u201d if Marc Marquez retires after next title"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MotoGP race winner Marco Melandri says he \u201cwouldn\u2019t be surprised\u201d if Marc Marquez won the 2026 title and retired, after the 2025 championship \u201ctook its toll\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/racer\/1654\/marc-marquez\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Marc Marquez<\/a> won a seventh MotoGP world title last year five years on from the serious arm injury that threatened his career.<\/p>\n<p>It drew him level with Valentino Rossi\u2019s tally and one away from Giacomo Agostini\u2019s all-time record of eight.<\/p>\n<p>Marquez started the 2026 season as title favourite, but hasn\u2019t enjoyed an easy opening three rounds, with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/teams\/ducati-lenovo-team\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ducati<\/a> rider yet to finish on the podium in a grand prix.<\/p>\n<p>He does have a sprint win and podium to his credit, but Ducati has been a step behind Aprilia in the main races, while Marquez continues to suffer from the shoulder injury he sustained in Indonesia last season.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>In a recent interview, Andrea Dovizioso said Marquez\u2019s physical situation is \u201cmore serious than it seems\u201d, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/news\/1092832\/1\/new-ducati-video-reveals-worrying-marc-marquez-claim-bike-critical-so-am-i\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">while the Ducati rider labelled it \u201ccritical\u201d himself at the US Grand Prix<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking with GPOne, Marco Melandri, who won five races in MotoGP, said he believes the effort required for Marquez to win the 2025 title \u201chas taken its toll\u201d and considers retirement if he is victorious again this season as a possibility.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe remains the most well-rounded rider overall, even if he\u2019s perhaps less explosive than last year,\u201d he said during the Brazilian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMore than the injury, I think the mental effort required to win the title back has taken its toll, because in my opinion, he gave more than 110% in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe remains the favourite, but if [Marco] Bezzecchi manages himself well, he could seriously join the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>He added: \u201cIf Marquez were to win the title, he might even decide to retire at the end of the season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s how I see it. I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if he were to stop after his 10th [grand prix] title.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marquez\u2019s current deal with Ducati expires at the end of this season, though he is set to remain with the Italian marque into 2027.<\/p>\n<p>He admitted earlier this year that his physical situation had delayed the signing of a new deal.<\/p>\n<p>However, announcements for all riders have largely been put on hold while the manufacturers discuss a new commercial deal with the championship.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MotoGP race winner Marco Melandri says he \u201cwouldn\u2019t be surprised\u201d if Marc Marquez won the 2026 title and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,4280,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-587067","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-marc-marquez","11":"tag-motor","12":"tag-motor-sports","13":"tag-motosport","14":"tag-motosports","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587067","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=587067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}