Puig: Marc Marquez “riding at same level as before his injury”

The Repsol Honda Team Manager, like many, witnessed Marquez produce a stunning performance in qualifying to claim second on the grid.

However, when it came to racing, Marquez was back to his aggressive and calculated best, despite having a Honda that is clearly underperforming.

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While teammate Joan Mir and COTA winner Alex Rins struggled majorly for the second weekend in a row, Marquez was able to fight the likes of Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin at the head of both races, including an epic duel with the Pramac rider that lasted until the penultimate lap before he lost the front-end of his machine at turn seven. 

But despite another scoreless result for Marquez, which was also the case for Mir after the 2020 world champion with Suzuki crashed out earlier on, Puig was impressed by the level shown from Marquez. 

Speaking to MotoGP.com, Puig said: "Marc did a fantastic race. Unfortunately, at the end of the race he was chasing a podium and knew that Zarco was just behind him and ready to push so Marc needed to keep fighting. 

"The character of a Champion is to try and always take the maximum from any situation, which is exactly what Marc did.

"I think Marc is now riding at the same level as before his injury three years ago. He rode superbly and did the best with what he had."

Like Marquez and Mir, Rins also ended his French Grand Prix without points after a for the second consecutive season at Le Mans.

"I made a good start and was trying to recover positions as we had found something that made me feel comfortable on the bike, but after the 14th lap, the front end got closed, and I crashed," added Rins. 

"I was struggling with the rear side of the bike. However, this is part of racing, and we’ll keep pushing in Mugello."