Marc Marquez insists Ducati riders are already playing mind games with him

When Marquez joins Gresini in 2024 he will jump on the same bike that Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin rode this season.

Factory Ducati rider Bagnaia’s prediction was: “Next year we’ll have a very good bike, you can brake very hard which he already does with the Honda. 

“The engine is fast. I don’t know if he’ll fight for the championship but he’ll be in the top five, for sure.”

Enea Bastianini said: “[Marc] is an incredible talent. For me, it will be a problem from the first race!”

Pramac’s Martin said: “It’s a big challenge for us because it’s the only way to compare us to Marc, one of the greatest from history.”

But Marquez has suggested that these remarks were the first psychological games.

He claimed: “It’s what I would say if somebody moves to a good bike!

“I would put pressure on him! Say he will be super-fast.

“Because I take pressure off me, and put pressure on him.

“That’s what they are saying. I am 30, I have many years in MotoGP. When you have difficult moments on the race-track, you think that you’re performing in a good way but the results are not coming and not arriving, then you start to have doubts.

“Especially because, since 2020, my years have been like a nightmare.

“As an athlete, you must survive if you have a difficult moment. You have doubts, of course, doubts in yourself.

“But these doubts? Next year I will answer if they are real doubts, or if it’s okay.

“To think I’ll go out with the bike and win all the races? Impossible.

“But I’d be lying to you if I say: ‘No, it’s okay…’

“It’s new motivation. New motivation means that you want to understand many things, to feel again butterflies in your stomach to come to the circuit, that extra pressure…

“Maybe not every race, but to at least be competitive in the top positions in some race tracks.”

Six-time MotoGP champion Marquez hasn’t won the title since 2019 and has endured three years ravaged by injury and a below-par bike.