Marquez on rekindling Rossi respect: “Maybe in 20-30 years we’ll talk…”

Their vitriolic rivalry was reopened by Marquez’s new Amazon Prime Video documentary, in which he charts the biggest moments of his career ahead of the 2023 MotoGP season starting.

Marquez blamed Rossi for kicking him off his bike at Sepang in 2015, he accepted responsibility for their collision in Argentina in 2018, and it has emerged that the Italian chose not to give his side of their story in the documentary.

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“The battle with him was of another intensity, of a very large magnitude,” Marquez told Corriere.

“There was a before and after between us. Maybe in 20-30 years we will talk to each other again! 

“Never say never, but it won't happen tomorrow."

Marquez is fully fit after two years of injury - he is vying for a seventh premier class championship which would equal the total posted by Rossi.

"This winter I am back to the levels of before, now the final step is missing: improving the performance in the race, we will understand it after the first 4-5 races,” he said.

“Win the title? I see it as tough, but the goal is always the same."

Marquez feels grateful to even be lining up on the grid for the 2023 season.

Last summer, after a fourth serious operation to his arm, he was forced to confront the reality that his body might not hold up anymore.

He said about considering retirement: "Yes, it's true, I still feel like crying thinking about it. 

“I had talked about it for a month with my father, with my friend and assistant Josè, it was one of the possibilities. 

“But being an athlete and an ambitious person, I looked for one last chance with the fourth operation. 

“Motorcycling has always been 'epic', it wanted superheroes. I regretted some things, I learned my lesson. I didn't respect the injury."