Factory Ducati rider Marc Marquez branded his Mugello MotoGP win as “unexpected” despite establishing a two second cushion over the rest of the field.
The Spaniard converted his 100th career pole to a 93rd career win at the Italian Grand Prix, crossing the line 1.942s ahead of his brother Alex Marquez.
He came out on top after a scrap with Marquez and team-mate Francesco Bagnaia in the first half of the race, with all three riders leading at one stage.
The race-winning move came on Lap 9, after which he dominated the second half, but the Spaniard hadn’t anticipated a victory was on the cards.
“I rate this weekend as Qatar – an unexpected victory,” Marquez said in MotoGP’s After the Flag.
“It’s that kind of track where normally I need to defend, but I was able to attack and take even more points against Alex.
“[He] is the main opponent at the moment because he’s super constant and super-fast, and has very strong points, especially on those fast right corners.”
Marc Marquez reveals what he told himself throughout the MotoGP Mugello race
The 32-year-old admitted he didn’t want to replicate the mistake he made at Jerez when he crashed out early on while losing ground on the leaders.
Marquez described what he was telling himself during the early phases while battling alongside his nearest championship rivals.
“I was breathing more than normal because already in Jerez I crashed in the second, third lap,” he said.
“So today I was just repeating in my mind that ‘the race is super long’.
“And like this, I tried to be inside the battle because my target was to lead the race, but at the same time I tried to manage the tyres.
“I saw that Pecco was pushing the tyres a lot and then I said ‘ok, let’s see what I can do’.
“But then I saw Alex overtook us, then I already understood that Alex had another pace.
“Then I jumped behind him and I just waited for that middle part of the race when I started to feel better.”
He added: “I mean, I was just trying to be on that 1m47s lows, some 1m46s but it was too risky.
“But I saw that the gap was increasing and then I tried to manage the situation. Then when I took those 1.5s, 2s, I just managed the race.”
Marquez ended a decade-long wait to claim his first MotoGP win in Tuscany since the 2014 season.
READ MORE – Marc Marquez prevails to take victory in frenetic Mugello MotoGP race
