Marquez on Rossi controversy: “Help him win? No. If someone disrespects me…”

Marquez has delivered the explosive truth about his nasty relationship with Rossi in his new Amazon Prime Video documentary, ‘Marc Marquez: All In’, detailing their fall-out and their most controversial moment.

Rossi publicly accused Marquez during the 2015 season of trying to thwart his title hopes by assisting Jorge Lorenzo. In the final race, Marquez was accused of not fully challenging for the win and allowing Lorenzo to cruise home to claim the championship.

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“Could I have risked it on the last turn without knowing what would happen? Yes,” Marquez now says. 

“But the thing is, this person had done all this to me just because I passed him. Was I going to help him win a title? No.

“I wasn’t motivated because of what he created. Because of what I lived during those two weeks. I don’t wish that on anybody, let alone at 22 years old.

“‘Just know that Valentino has a lot of power in the media, and people will be against you’.

“If someone disrespects me, I’ve got the personality and the balls.”

Rossi started at the back of the grid at the season-finale in Valencia and was denied the second-place finish he needed to become champion by Marquez and Dani Pedrosa, behind leader Lorenzo.

Rossi was at the back as punishment for arguably MotoGP’s most infamous incident - when he caused Marquez to crash as they made contact in Sepang.

The new documentary captures an awkward exchange post-race where Rossi sarcastically says “bravo”, and Marquez replies: “Beautiful kick”.

“Some people still say that I threw myself against his bike,” Marquez says now. “‘He didn’t kick you, he only pushed his foot out a bit!’”

Marquez’s explanation of that incident was: “Whatever, he cornered me into the side of the track. Didn’t give me any room. And when he looked at me, he poked his foot out.

“It was also a mistake from the race director. If it isn’t Valentino Rossi, it’s a black flag and it’s over.”

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Marquez and Rossi had scrapped, argued and collided throughout 2015. The Spaniard was a two-time MotoGP champion and the reigning title-holder. Rossi was on a five-year drought since winning his seventh premier class title - ultimately, he would never win another championship in the final 12 seasons of his career.

But this fierce rivalry truly began a year earlier in Tavullia, Rossi’s hometown, when Marquez was among a group of young riders invited to the legend’s ranch.

“We were there for a day,” Marquez remembers. “We were competing over who could beat the record on his track. 

“Starting from that day, I think something changed. The relationship coolled off a bit. I don’t know why. 

“Maybe he was bothered that I beat his track record, I don’t know. The word on the street is that it was one of the reasons…”