Comebacks, setbacks and adversity – Part II
- Martyn Foster
- Oct 3
- 4 min read
"I am now at peace with myself." - Marc Marquez
When I wrote the original piece back in 2021 after Marc had won his first race since returning from his major crash the year before, I had no idea how it would eventually pan out for the man. More than four years later, he is a world champion again – for the 7th time in MotoGP and 9th time overall. It really is a comeback story for the ages; the man has literally gone through hell and back before rising like a phoenix from the ashes.
As you can see from the image above, he has gone through a lot. The physical and mental toll on Marc would have broken the resolve of 99% of people – and to be fair, it nearly did Marc as well. It didn’t help that upon his return in 2021, the Honda he was riding was plagued with development issues, and far from the most competitive or predictable of machines. Still, despite the wounded body, Marc continued to push – the only way he knew how – and suffered a horrific highside crash in Indonesia in 2022.
By 2023, much speculation was brewing around both the status of Marc’s health and his future with Honda, and even the sport itself. Marc made the decision to switch from Honda to Ducati for the 2024 season, signing a one-year non-guaranteed deal with Gresini. This was a massive risk, moving from the factory HRC team to the 4th Ducati team on the grid on a year-old bike, allegedly turning down $20m in the process.
At the 2023 end of season test, his first response to the Ducati was a massive grin, a very positive sign that he had indeed made the correct choice. Marc proceeds to win at Aragon in 2024 for his first win since that Sachsenring victory in 2021. For the upcoming 2025 season, once again Marc is involved in much speculation, this time surrounding who would be the other factory Ducati rider alongside 2-time world champion, Pecco Bagnaia. Ducati make the choice to sign Marc ahead of 2024 champ Jorge Martin (then Pramac Ducati) and then current rider Enea Bastianini.
Would this upward trend in fortune continue for Marc? It certainly wasn’t a given at the time that this was going to be a match made in heaven and a foregone conclusion of great success. No one predicted what was to follow.
Marquez has utterly dominated the 2025 season – 11 GP wins 14 sprint wins in 17 rounds so far – he has annihilated the opposition on his way to clinching the title at the most recent round in Motegi, Japan (along with setting a record for most points in a season, and we still have five rounds to go!). Marc has just been untouchable this year much like F1’s Max Verstappen in 2023 where he won 19 times out of 22.
I think it is worth mentioning the positive effect Marc’s girlfriend, Gemma Pinto, has had on him since they started their relationship in mid-2023. I’ve talked previously about the benefits and stability of a partner, and there’s no doubt that there's been changes in Marc since being with Gemma. He’s calmer and happier, he seems to have a greater verve for life. Gemma is regularly at race weekends with him, and numerous other riders say similar things about having partners and family with them, as it can be quite a lonely travelling circus otherwise. It makes the celebrations sweeter, and the sorrows halved.
So, why did he do it all? Why did he put himself through so much pain and stress? What was left for an 8-times world champion to do? Marc didn’t need the money, and he didn’t do it for the money. He wanted to know if he could ride like that again. He needed to know if he could ride like that again, to win again. That is a champion. That is a man driven by sheer will and determination. That is a man with the competitive spirit that few possess. The injuries have humbled him, in a good way, and he is a more mature and complete rider. He could have retired, and no one would have thought lesser of him, but no. Marc would have been forever haunted by the “what if?”, he had to earn his peace…and boy has he earned it. Comeback complete.
With his demons exorcised and now unburdened by fate, the question becomes, what is possible or next for Marc Marquez? All I know is this, a free rider is a fast rider.
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