“Serious meetings” needed to stop Marc Marquez, Pecco Bagnaia “battered”
"Riders need to look at themselves" after Marc Marquez's epic Buriram win
Marc Marquez dealt a “knockout blow” to his competition, according to an awe-struck rant after the Thailand MotoGP.
The factory Ducati debutant blew away his rivals all weekend, claiming pole position then winning the sprint and the grand prix.
Marquez shrugged off a tyre pressure worry to cruise behind his brother Alex Marquez - before a perfectly-timed overtake enabled his measured victory in Buriram on Sunday.
Marc Marquez 'pulverised opponents' at Thai MotoGP
“The only man better than [Alex Marquez] was his brother, who was just in another league,” TNT Sports’ Neil Hodgson said.
“That was a Marc Marquez performance. He rode around near his brother to get his front tyre temperature up.
“We forget it’s so difficult to do that. You get all the heat off the bike and it’s exhausting. You have to deal with doing the calculation.
“That was a win with one hand on his hip, in the first race of the season.
“He has absolutely pulverised his opponents. Look at Bagnaia’s body language - he’s done.
“It’s a knockout blow in the first round.
“Yes, I know it’s a 22-round championship. I know there’s 21 rounds to go and anything can happen, and we’ll have all sorts of different conditions. But what a performance!
“Pecco is walking around punch-drunk - he’s been battered!
“That’s before we mention anyone else because there are no other rivals, they aren’t in his league.
“Serious meetings need to happen. Riders need to look at themselves. They are 20-odd seconds behind him - and Marc was sat back! He waited to pass with two laps to go, and pulled 1.1s in his first attempt to have a go!
“I’ve never seen anything like it, it’s unbelievable. He’s on another level, it’s unbelievable what I witnessed.”
Marquez threatened the kind of performance that was delivered at Buriram last year, when he mounted a title challenge despite riding inferior machinery to eventual champion Jorge Martin and Bagnaia.
His step up into Ducati’s factory team has given him equal machinery to Bagnaia, while Martin deals with injury and adapting to the Aprilia.
It has also threatened Bagnaia’s popular status within the Ducati camp - particularly after a glorious debut win.
Marquez leads the MotoGP championship for the first time since 2019. The next round is in Argentina on March 14-16.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
