Alex Marquez told “that was opportunity” with Marc Marquez “weaker”

Marc Marquez’s “weaker” moment during the sprint race at the Qatar MotoGP was not capitalised upon by Alex Marquez.

Marc Marquez converted pole position into victory on Saturday at the Lusail circuit but not without a battle against his brother on Lap 1.

Gresini rider Alex briefly overtook but factory Ducati star Marc reclaimed the position - it was a pivotal moment for the younger brother, he has been told.

“With Alex, that was his opportunity when Marc was a bit weaker in the first two laps,” TNT Sports’ Michael Laverty said.

“But he couldn’t capitalise. He couldn’t make it stick.

“The problem is that on the first lap you have a heavy fuel load (although it was half-distance so half-fuel load).

“The bike is pushing in. You’ve got a tail wind with the slipstream.

“He goes a little wide. That leaves the door open to Marc. He should have gone back - he called it, he should have been aggressive and immediately responded.

“From there, he may have been able to hold Marc back.

“He will recalibrate and go again.”

Alex Marquez admitted: “I believe in the first laps I had more. I wanted to overtake to make a gap, to be calm and to fight with him.

“But he was better than me, he was more brave in some parts.

“Where normally he struggles, he was super fast.”

Marc will line up on pole, with Alex second, in the grand prix in Qatar on Sunday.

'What happened' to Pecco Bagnaia?

Pecco Bagnaia’s disastrous weekend, on a circuit which was supposed to suit him, continued on Saturday.

He qualified 11th after crashing, then finished the sprint in eighth.

“Unbelievable,” Sylvain Guintoli said. “What happened?

“The last time he was on the bike he fell off in qualifying.

“In those circumstances, the team have to rebuild the bike or swap the bike. So maybe something wasn’t right with the feel.

“It took him too much time to get into gear.”

Bagnaia later blamed his factory Ducati’s fuel tank.

Hope for Jorge Martin and Fabio Quartararo?

Jorge Martin’s first sprint of the year due to injury, and his first on an Aprilia, ended in P16.

“He had to grit his teeth,” Laverty assessed. “You could see he was having a go, riding like the old Jorge, but he couldn’t push through the pain barrier.

“He had to pull it back. But he got through it, got some data, he was fast and matching his teammate until fatigue set in.”

Sunday’s longer race could feature extra challengers at the front, it has been predicted.

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo could sustain his fight from third on the starting grid.

“The VR46 riders will think they’ve got more to give,” Laverty said.

“But it will be different. We expect everyone to be on the medium tyre. It’s 22 laps.

“Fuel consumption and tyre consumption [are important] here. It will be a different race, it might bring Fabio Quartararo in.

“The Ducatis could blast past him but that won’t be the case, as much, [on Sunday]. He will have something to fight with.”