Marc Marquez says his move on Marco Bezzecchi at the start of the Aragon Grand Prix sprint was premeditated, as he knew Turn 1 was his only chance of taking victory.
The outcome of Saturday’s MotoGP contest at MotorLand was decided on the opening lap, as Marquez hit the brakes at the last possible moment to jump ahead of Bezzecchi into the opening left-hander.
The move also allowed his younger brother Alex Marquez to pass the Aprilia rival, giving the reigning world champions some breathing room in the crucial opening phase of the race.
With Bezzecchi running the soft rear, the Marquez brothers could pull away in the final laps, claiming an important 1-2 finish for Ducati.
Speaking afterwards, Marc Marquez revealed that he had already planned his move on Bezzecchi before the start of the sprint, aware that his title rival was going to run away in the opening laps if he had remained at the front.
“Our chances of winning depended on that first corner, because Marco was on the soft tyre,” said Marquez.
WE ARE GO IN THE #TissotSprint! 🚥
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Bez lead the way but @marcmarquez93 had other ideas! ⚔️#AragonGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/saLR4wrEiH
“All of us on Ducatis started on the medium tyre, because the softs weren’t an option. The softs were the same as at Silverstone, where we didn’t do well at all.
“When I saw that Marco Bezzecchi was starting with the soft, my only chance was to attack the first corner. It's what I did, it was in my plan. I know that is a corner where I feel strong.
“I tried to lead the first lap, which was the most important thing in the sprint. And from there, I tried to set my own pace until I’d built up a steady gap that I could manage.”
Marquez admitted his move carried a degree of risk, as he could have run wide and dropped the down. However, after qualifying second on the grid, he felt the risk was worth taking.
“When you have only one rider in front, it's easy to attack in that mode. When the rider in front brakes, you brake a bit later, and if you make some mistakes, you have a runoff area,” he said.
“It's risky, of course, but it's part of racing. Of course, when you are there in the middle of the group, you cannot do this kind of movement. But when you're starting in front, yes.”
On Sunday, Marquez will be gunning for an eighth premier class win at Aragon, a track he counts among his best alongside Austin and the Sachsenring.
The 33-old has already moved back to third place in the championship following his sprint win, and another 25 points on Sunday would slash the deficit further to Aprilia duo Jorge Martin and Bezzecchi.
Asked whether he would be willing to attempt a similar pass on the Italian in the grand prix, the nine-time world champion said: “It depends, but the first corner will be important again.
“Maybe Marco will defend a bit in a different way. But it's a corner where I feel strong. It depends a lot on the start. From that point, let's see, I will understand during the race what we can do.”
