Alex Marquez admitted he knew “it was his day” to win his first MotoGP race after older brother Marc Marquez crashed out in Jerez on Sunday.
Marquez stormed to his maiden MotoGP victory at his home circuit in Jerez by defeating Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo.
However, the path to victory was made clearer for the Gresini rider as older brother Marc Marquez crashed out from third after being favourite to take victory.
The younger Marquez admitted he felt like “the strongest” rider on the circuit without Marquez’s crash, and had a feeling that he would take his first MotoGP victory.
“When I saw Marc crash, I said ‘OK, today is your day’,” Alex revealed via Crash.net.
“I knew with Marc on track, I still had a chance. But without him, I was the strongest.”
“When Marc lost the front, I was saying inside my helmet, ‘nooo!’ Because he was trying to save it for a long time, and then he disappeared.
“Then, in that moment, it was like a ‘click’, he activated me in a really good way.
Marquez added: “I said, ‘it’s your day, you cannot lose the opportunity again like in Austin’. So I was emotional for Marc for 0.5 seconds! Then I just focused on my own race.”
“I was already emotional in the last sector. Maybe Fabio [Quartararo] and Pecco [Bagnaia] had an easier way in MotoGP. I had some tough years.”
“This is at the same level as my two Moto2 titles,” Alex said of his MotoGP victory.
“It was super nice remembering my family, my grandfather, and especially Marc, who was always supporting me.”
Alex Marquez – from ‘no interest’ to MotoGP race winner
Following his first premier class race win, Marquez recalled his MotoGP journey and admitted he found himself at a crossroads after his stint with LCR Honda.
The Gresini rider said he begged the Gresini team to let him have one year to see his potential, which has finally come to fruition.
“I remember in 2022. I was in Sachsenring, already halfway through the season. Everybody had a contract. I had no contract, no interest,” he recalled.
“I just went to Gresini and said, ‘I want your bike. I don’t care about any other things. I just want your bike and to see my potential. Give me one year’.”
“It was a matter of time to come back,” he said.
Marquez celebrated two podiums and two Sprint wins with Gresini in 2023, but struggled on the less competitive GP23 machinery last season.
It was “a little bit of a nightmare in some points”, he admitted, but suggested the experience helped him develop for the current campaign.
“It was a year when I learned a lot, because I got used to riding a bike that was one step behind.
Now on the GP24, which Marquez calls “the best bike I’ve ridden in my life”, he has finished on the podium in nine out of ten races so far this season.
“We know what we have, so we just need to focus and believe in our potential.”
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