Alex Marquez bounced back from a painful Sprint crash to deliver a flawless performance at the Catalan MotoGP, defeating his brother Marc and ending the factory Ducati rider’s 15-race winning streak.
The victory marked Alex’s second career win in the premier class, his first since Jerez, and his first grand prix podium since Sachsenring before the summer break.
Reflecting on Saturday’s mistake, which he admitted was caused by overconfidence, Alex said it ultimately made him sharper in Sunday’s race.
“That mistake is still painful, but it helped me today. I was braking too late at that corner, and I learned from it,” he explained.
After losing the holeshot to Marc at Turn 1, Alex reclaimed the lead a few laps later and never looked back. Despite Marc’s relentless pressure throughout the 24 laps, the Gresini rider managed his tyres and avoided errors to secure a composed and decisive win.
“It’s never easy with Marc behind you because you know he will push on the limit. You can’t relax. But I focused on managing everything and rode a perfect race,” Alex said.
His celebrations included a symbolic stop at Turn 10—the site of his Sprint crash—where he rolled in the gravel and jokingly flipped a double middle finger at the corner, calling it his “revenge.”
The win trimmed Marc’s championship lead to 182 points, delaying his coronation, while also extending Alex’s cushion over Francesco Bagnaia to 68 points in the fight for second place overall.
