Marc Marquez proving his ‘DNA remains intact’ despite difficult start to 2026 MotoGP season | Latest Sports News

Marc Marquez hasn’t had the start to 2026 that he’d hoped for, but even with injury issues holding him back, there have been glimpses of what he’s still capable of.

Through the opening three rounds, Marquez has yet to reach the Grand Prix podium. He did manage a Sprint win in Brazil, but over a full race distance, he’s been unable to match Marco Bezzecchi and Aprilia, who have strung together five straight wins.

Advertisement

He’s still not fully fit either. The right shoulder injury he picked up in Mandalika last season continues to bother him, something he acknowledged again in Austin.

The weekend didn’t go smoothly either. Marquez crashed during practice, picking up a knock on his right forearm. In qualifying, teammate Francesco Bagnaia outpaced him before Marquez took out Fabio Di Giannantonio during the Sprint. A long lap penalty followed by a P5 finish summed up his Sunday.

Afterwards, Marquez didn’t hide from how tough things had been, describing both himself and the GP26 as ‘critical’. It hasn’t been the title defence start he would have wanted, but it doesn’t feel like all hope is lost just yet.

Following his 2026 US Grand Prix result and difficult start to his title defence campaign so far this year with Ducati, Marc Marquez admitted that things were not good for either himself or Ducati. In fact, the word ‘critical’ was used when assessing both situations.

Marc Marquez shows he’s still got it, despite a tough start to the 2026 season

After being hit with a long lap penalty in Austin, Marc Marquez found himself well down the order, and any hopes of a podium finish quickly faded. But that didn’t stop him from pushing through the field and making up ground.

Advertisement

Marquez worked his way into a battle with Bagnaia and Tech’s Enea Bastianini, eventually moving past Bastianini to take fifth place. While he missed out on a podium, former crew chief Juan Martinez noted the quality of his overtaking moves in what he called ‘complicated’ parts of the track.

It was further proof that Marquez’s instincts remain sharp, even as he sits fifth in the standings after three rounds. Speaking via Motosan, Martinez said: “It’s clear that when you look at the standings and see Marc in fifth, you say he didn’t have a good race.”

“When you analyse the pace and see those two mid-range, two low-range speeds in the final phase, which was the pace Bezzecchi demonstrated to win, it makes you think that Marc is more a matter of aligning all the small details”, Martinez continued.

The start of Sunday’s race showed some early struggles for Marquez. He was unable to relax into his rhythm right away, but found his groove as things went on.

Advertisement

As Sunday went on, though, we saw more signs of improvement from him than we had seen earlier this year.

“We saw him with more problems at the beginning, where he wasn’t completely relaxed, I didn’t see him as fluid enough.”

“He was finding his rhythm, he understood exactly how to communicate with his bike,” he added. “We have seen him make many overtakes in very complicated places and situations. Marc’s DNA remains intact.”

Read more: