MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez says it is “impossible” to single out just one rider as his main title rival, as the top 'five or six in the standings have a chance.'
Marquez holds a 27-point lead in the championship over nearest rival Valentino Rossi, after three wins so far in 2018 and a second last time out at Barcelona.
Originally pegging Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso as his main rival at the start of the year after he fought him for the premier class crown last season, the Qatar winner has crashed in three of the last four races and sits 49 points adrift of Marquez ahead of this weekend's Dutch TT.
The sudden rise of Dovizioso's Ducati teammate Jorge Lorenzo – who has won the last two events and is equal on 66 points with the Italian – as well as the consistency of Yamaha's Rossi has made focusing on one rival difficult for Marquez.
“Now is impossible [to focus on a championship rival], because for me the top five, six riders have some chance to win the championship because many points in front, many races, many situations,” he said.
“But of course looks like Yamaha riders are there, second, third [Maverick Vinales], fourth [Tech3's Johann Zaro].
“Valentino is second, and normally in this race track Yamaha is very fast. But we will see, this year we improve, also Ducati is in a very good shape, very good way, very good level.
“We will try to defend and try to be in the fight for the victory.”
Having shown strong this season at tracks typically not favoured by the Honda, Marquez doesn't believe a victory at Assen will prove he has the best bike on the grid this year, as he is already “convinced” of this.
“I'm already convinced, I'm already convinced about my team, about myself that we are good in every circuit,” he added.
“So we start the weekend with the mentality to fight for the victory, and then we will see where we arrive.
“Like we speak every Thursday, since you don't put the wheels on circuit, you don't know how [you] will work and how will be the weekend.
“Anyway, we already show that we were fast in Jerez, in Le Mans, Mugello, Montmelo, different types of circuits in different conditions, and we expect to be competitive here too.”
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