Marquez: “I didn’t want to touch Rossi rivalry again - but you have to”

Marquez spoke in-depth about the notorious incident in Sepang in 2015 which left him on the floor, his feelings as Rossi failed to win the MotoGP championship that same year, and the clash in Argentina in 2018 which resulted in their respective teams publicly arguing.

But his Amazon Prime Video documentary ‘Marc Marquez: All In’ required him to revisit the nasty rivalry even if he preferred to leave it in the past.

• Marquez: ‘Racing and testing very different’, Mir set for moment ‘I dreamed of’

"If you do a docu-series, you have to deal with every moment,” he said to Marca ahead of the Portuguese MotoGP this weekend, the 2023 season-opener. 

“It has focused more on last year, logically, but it has also touched on the Jorge Lorenzo theme, the Dani Pedrosa theme, but what happens is that it was not of such magnitude. Because Valentino is Valentino. 

“So, a little more time is spent on Valentino than on Lorenzo and Pedrosa, because there was not much more to explain. 

“But everything has to be touched. If you make a docu-series you have to tell everything, to be open. And I didn't want to touch it, but you have to.”

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He also revealed his discontent at Honda’s lack of competitiveness in 2022, a season interrupted by his latest surgery.

Marquez arrives in Portimao fully-fit for the first time in three years but with question marks over the machinery that he hopes will power him to a seventh premier class championship.

He said about Honda: "I was going to say a marriage movie. It's like a marriage. A marriage is not always happiness. 

“There are some [downs], times when it goes better; moments when it's worse, moments when you do everything together, moments of 'let me breathe a little'. 

“Hopefully it will be a marriage, with ups and downs, but it will be lasting.”

Marquez has two years remaining on his lucrative contract. He has always reaffirmed his commitment but that bond could be tested if Honda cannot deliver him a bike capable of fighting at the front this season.

"At the moment, two years,” he said about his future with Honda. 

“Now I have two years of contract, I have to tell you that yes, I hope it will be lasting. 'The Neverending Story'? Maybe…”

Marquez remains among the favourites for this season’s title, particularly in the eyes of his fellow riders who see his remarkable talent beyond the limitations of his Repsol Honda machine.

He has recovered from his latest surgery and said: “In two years I have matured more than in 10. 

“I have matured more from 27 to 28 than from 20 to 25.”

MotoGP’s other riders have been warned…