‘Stronger’ Marquez dishes out demoralising defeat for Dovi

Marc Marquez’s sixth MotoGP World Championship win of the season – the 50th of his career - could be perceived as one of his most important successes yet as he comfortably saw off the threat of Andrea Dovizioso and Ducati at a circuit tipped to favour his rivals.

Another sure sign that the improvements to the Repsol Honda in Marquez’s hands have seen him ascend to another level over Dovizioso – so often the rider chasing him down in the standings - the Italian ran him close initially but at no time appeared to pose a threat for a repeat of his 2018 victory.

Indeed, when Marquez then stepped it up at the half-way mark to break away, Dovizioso couldn’t respond to cross the line a telling two seconds adrift.

Swelling his lead to 63 points, Marquez was pleased to defeat Dovizioso at a Brno circuit perceived as better suited to the Ducati package.

“I’m very happy, very happy,” he said. “To come from the summer break with the same way we finished before the summer break is the best thing. We’re at a circuit where we expected Dovi to take some points and in the end we increased the advantage, which is the most important.

“Before the race I was convinced about the strategy, but I was a bit worried because we tried a completely new set-up as in warm-up the feeling was not the best so we decided to change it. The team did a great job to understand problem

“The strategy was clear, push from the beginning until the end because I chose the soft option and I didn’t know the drop of the tyres but it was good from the beginning. In the end, I started to drop but he dropped earlier than me and that made the biggest difference.”

Responding to a question about whether he feels responsible for MotoGP being seen as ‘predictable’, Marquez dismisses the notion but admits his breakthrough with being able to push from start-to-finish means he is winning more comprehensively.

“MotoGP is not predictable! But I see the way I am racing this year, I am feeling stronger than last year. Some races that are more difficult but last year in the races I was able to attack, I attacked from the beginning until the end.

“In the races I was suffering a bit I was behind Dovi – he used his strategy to manage the tyres and push at the end. But this year I feel strong, I can push from beginning to end. The numbers are increasing, we are between some big legends of the sport and this is big respect.”