Jorge Lorenzo explains how Marc Marquez has continued to develop throughout the 2026 MotoGP season despite his injury, and where his greatest strength lies today
MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez was once again put to the test at the start of the 2026 season when, due to his recent shoulder injury, he “crashed in strange ways on numerous occasions,” falling far behind the two Aprilia riders, Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin, in the points standings.
However, the surgery he underwent immediately after his crash in the Le Mans Sprint fundamentally changed Marquez’s season. With three wins in the last four Grand Prix races before the summer break, the Ducati rider has emphatically staked his claim to another title.
Three-time MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo believes that while Marquez no longer possesses the ultimate speed and seemingly boundless aggressiveness that defined his dominant era at Honda, the seven-time MotoGP World Champion now compensates for this with increased mental strength.
“Marc’s historic comeback is incredible. From a deficit of over 100 points, he’s cut the gap to just 18 points,” Lorenzo told the Spanish TV network DAZN, adding: “It’s a championship where you have to ride extremely fast, but above all, you have to hang in there.”
“What strikes me,” Lorenzo continued, “is how much he’s gained in intelligence and maturity. He crashes much less often. At Assen—which was probably the worst track for him, for the bike, and for his physical condition—he fought like a lion. At one point in the race, he put enough pressure on Bezzecchi to force him into a mistake.”
“He’s no longer as explosive and dominant as he was ten or twelve years ago, but today he’s the most versatile and intelligent rider on the grid,” Lorenzo said in high praise of Marquez.
Marquez began the 2026 season while still recovering from the shoulder injury he sustained at the Indonesian Grand Prix in October. The aftereffects of his right shoulder injury hampered Marquez’s signature speed in left-hand turns—one of his greatest strengths for many years.
Since Marquez’s physical condition had not improved sufficiently by the time of the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez this past April, he underwent his most recent surgery on the very day of the French Grand Prix. When he returned to Mugello three weeks later, he immediately showed an improvement in performance.
Marquez still needs time to get back to full fitness, but the summer break should allow him to speed up his recovery. Lorenzo believes that Marquez’s performance in the second half of the season will vary from track to track. However, he believes that the Ducati rider will remain hard to beat on tracks that are run counterclockwise.
“We mustn’t forget that most race tracks consist mainly of right-hand turns. With this arm problem, the difference becomes even more pronounced,” explains the former MotoGP rider, who was Márquez’s teammate at Honda during the 2019 season.
“Marc struggles more on clockwise circuits than he used to. That allows the other riders to close the gap on him. On tracks with many left-hand turns, however—such as Sachsenring, Phillip Island, or Aragon—he performs significantly better.”
“Physically, he can maintain the pace [on tracks with predominantly left-hand turns] for longer and doesn’t have to hold back as much. There, thanks to his greatest strength—namely, his outstanding speed in left-hand turns—he can make the difference,” Lorenzo analyzes.