– With his commanding start-to-finish victory at the German Grand Prix on the Sachsenring, Ducati rider Marc Marquez has made a big leap in the 2026 MotoGP rider standings just before the summer break. With 190 points, Marquez is now third in the world championship, only four points behind Ai Ogura (Trackhouse-Aprilia) and just 18 points behind leader Jorge Martin (Aprilia).
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Martin’s teammate Marco Bezzecchi, who had led the championship standings for months, was not in the starting lineup this weekend due to injury. His highsider crash in turn 7 of the Sachsenring during Saturday’s qualifying meant he was only a spectator in both the sprint and the Grand Prix.
On Sunday, Bezzecchi underwent surgery in Italy for a broken left collarbone. This was confirmed by Aprilia in a statement early in the afternoon. According to this, Bezzecchi aims to participate in the British Grand Prix in three weeks (August 8/9). However, this is not yet 100% certain at this time.
“If I want to have any chance in the world championship, …”
Marc Marquez, exceptionally, does not have such worries. With his double victory at the Sachsenring and the perfect score of 37 world championship points, the seven-time and reigning MotoGP world champion has now clearly asserted his claims in the fight for the 2026 world title. At the start of the season, before Marquez’s recent shoulder surgery, this had not seemed likely.
As Marquez clearly expressed on Sunday at the Sachsenring, his first races this season were “a nightmare because I simply didn’t understand what was going on and therefore couldn’t enjoy riding. The arm let me down repeatedly at moments when I didn’t expect it. That’s why I often crashed in strange ways.”
The surgery performed on May 10, the race day of the French Grand Prix in Le Mans, was the salvation, although Marquez is still not back to 100 percent fitness two months later. Whether he will ever reach 100 percent again, he has questioned himself several times in recent weeks. Nevertheless, Marquez now feels competitive enough again that he no longer completely dismisses thoughts of the 2026 world title.
“If I want to have any chance in the world championship, then only if I attack this weekend. That was clear to me, so I said it and that’s exactly what I did,” Marquez says happily and explains: “Since the nerve started working properly again, I don’t yet have full strength, but at least I now know what the arm is doing. That helps me to adjust accordingly.”
“My current approach is to trust my instinct on Fridays. If I crash, I’d rather do it on Fridays to understand where the limit is. And then there are some tracks, like Assen, where I just want to hold on,” says the MotoGP title defender.
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Despite record victory: a small downside for Marc Marquez
The Sachsenring is not one of those “hold-on tracks” for Marc Marquez like the TT Circuit Assen – quite the opposite. Marquez’s triumph at the German Grand Prix on Sunday was already his 14th Sachsenring victory across all world championship classes.
In the premier class MotoGP alone, Marquez now has 10 wins on his showcase track Sachsenring. This equals the record of Giacomo Agostini for the most wins in the premier class at a single track. “Ago” achieved 10 wins on the street circuit in Imatra (Finland).
“10 wins at one track in the MotoGP class, that’s something special,” Marquez himself marveled on Sunday at his achievement. Nevertheless, he finds a small downside this weekend, which on paper could not have gone better for him.
“I’m not one hundred percent happy. Because I would have liked to see my brother Alex on the podium today as well,” says Marc Marquez. “I saw with my own eyes how he fought back after the crash in Montmelo (Barcelona; editor’s note). That was impressive. I know he can really push himself, but honestly, that was more than I expected.”
“Alex was really fast this weekend,” Marc Marquez continues his praise of his younger brother and admits: “Because Alex and also ‘Diggia’ were extremely fast, the sprint was more difficult for me.”
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In the Grand Prix, the two mentioned Ducati teammates crashed out. Regarding Di Giannantonio, he has dropped to fifth place in the 2026 MotoGP overall standings with his first retirement in a Grand Prix this year. Alex Marquez is ninth in the standings but already has a considerable points deficit to the top 8 due to missing three race weekends.
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