“If you don’t respect Marquez, it’s because you don’t understand motorcycles”

While coffee was being prepared in the Ducati truck located at the entrance at the rear of the official team box, Lenovo was present this time. Davide Tardozzi how. His driver Francesco Bagnaia had just won his fourth straight at the Sachsenring, and although he regretted Jorge Martin’s failure, he applauded the pressure the driver had put on him. And what’s more, although Marc Márquez was not yet in his box, he singled out the race that the eight-time champion had driven, again from thirteenth to second, although here with more problems than at Le Mans.

Asked whether what he saw on the German asphalt was the champion’s luck or the fruit of persistence and pressure until the end, he answered more relaxed than last time. “Pecco was very brave to put pressure until the end because Jorge was incredibly fast here, but he made a mistake. He made a mistake because Pecco didn’t stop pushing him. He did it tenth after tenth until he was 0.5 behind, and when a driver is half a second behind you, that’s when the problems start because you know something can happen behind you. Jorge threw too much and made a mistake. It’s a shame because he deserved to finish on the podium, first or second, but that’s racing.”

What he downplayed was his driver’s return to the lead: “The main thing is to score points, to get to the finish. It will be a championship again in which Jorge and Pecco will fight to the end. They are the fastest and the best. There are more than 400 points missing. The championship is very long and nothing ends in Germany or in the next race. I think he will come alive again this year to Valencia.”

We told him we were surprised he hadn’t mentioned Marquez in terms of the title, which had made him dismiss the eight-time champion again: “Marquez… Yes, yes, it could be him. I think at the moment Jorge and Pecco have more than Marc, but If Marc is in the official team in 2025, it is because we believe in him. It is clear that at the moment he suffers a little from inexperience on the bike and something has gone wrong, but if you do not respect Marc Marquez, it is because you do not understand motorcycles. I enjoyed his comeback. Given the problems he had on Friday and Saturday, with that crash and the race he had, that’s something only champions can do. It’s not up for debate. “Whoever talks about Marc Marquez doesn’t know anything about motorcycles.”