Alex Marquez’s aspirations of achieving a maiden MotoGP championship were dealt a major blow during the French Grand Prix.
Marquez crashed twice before retiring in Le Mans, after running closely behind his brother Marc for the majority of the Grand Prix.
It marks the Gresini rider’s first non-score of the season and leaves him 22 points from the top of the standings after just six rounds.
Marquez knows Marc is ‘still superior’ to him, but he has put up a great fight so far this campaign. Unfortunately, he seems to have too much pace most of the time.
With 16 rounds of the MotoGP calendar to go, the fight is far from over, but the Spaniard needs to find a way to beat his brother on merit.
Otherwise, Marquez will face a ‘problem’ later in the year when he has to turn around a points deficit which is going to be almost unassailable.
Sylvain Guintoli still has faith in Alex Marquez despite being ‘caught’ out at the French Grand Prix
Crashing twice at Le Mans may turn out to be costly for Marquez. The first incident saw him recover quickly and resume in sixth.
The second crash happened at much higher speed, and left him with no option but to retire from the race due to the damage sustained.
Despite a string of recent errors, Sylvain Guintoli has kept his faith in the Spaniard and told TNT Sports that he’s still one of the best riders in the wet.
“Alex Marquez is one of the best riders in the wet with the wet Michelin tyres. He knows them, he’s got loads and loads of experience,” he said.
“He’s got loads of experience in Le Mans actually [even though] he got caught twice. The second one actually was massive there for Alex. Unfortunately, he’s unscathed, but for Alex, that’s not a good operation for the championship.”
READ MORE: Neil Hodgson just saw the real Alex Marquez in Spanish Grand Prix incident, ‘expected more of this’…
Why Alex Marquez’s French Grand Prix wasn’t a total disaster
The French Grand Prix was yet another instalment of the season where Marquez showed he had better pace than Francesco Bagnaia.
The two-time champion continues to underwhelm on the factory Ducati bike and needs to find more pace soon.
Otherwise, there could be some conversation to be had about his future. Alex is quicker on an older GP24, which says a lot.
Could he be matching or even beating his brother if he had the same machinery? Maybe so, but it’s well-known that Bagnaia can’t get close enough currently.
The decision will have to be made at some point in the future, but winning more races will only do Marquez’s future more good.
