Five-time world champion Jorge Lorenzo believes Marc Marquez would have dominated the 2020s had it not been for the career-altering MotoGP crash he suffered in Jerez in 2020.
Marquez’s comeback story is well documented after suffering a string of injuries between 2020 and 2025, culminating in a remarkable renaissance that saw him win his ninth world title in dominant fashion.
Despite the injuries and the lengthy periods spent off the bike recovering and rehabilitating, Lorenzo believes Honda’s decline during Marquez’s absence, coupled with his own physical setbacks, prevented him from setting unprecedented records in the MotoGP era.
“What can I say about Marquez? The only things he lacked in the years he didn’t win were the bike because the Honda wasn’t competitive and his injured arm,” stated Lorenzo to GPone.
“Without that injury in 2020 and with a bike on par with his rivals, he would have won every world championship, and now he’d be at 12 or 13 world titles, close to matching Agostini.
“It’ll never be like 2019 again, but when he’s more or less in good shape, he’s superior to the others.”
The Spaniard argued that the current generation of riders is not at the same level as the one Marquez faced during the first part of his career, when he regularly battled a golden generation of riders that included Lorenzo himself, Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi.
“In our generation, with Valentino and Pedrosa, we were all right there; maybe he had a track where he had a slight edge,” he added.
“But against this generation, at 32–33 years old, he’s still superior, and when he’s in good shape and riding a competitive bike, what we saw [at Balaton Park] happens.
“We shouldn’t jump to conclusions just yet; it won’t always be this way, and there will be tracks where Bezzecchi and Aprilia will be stronger and Marquez will struggle more, but overall, in terms of riding ability, Marquez is still superior.”
Marquez sits fifth in the championship standings, just 40 points adrift of new title leader Jorge Martín after undergoing surgery on his shoulder and foot.
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