Alex Marquez: Lost opportunity after Sprint win 'freedom', our moment will come

Despite losing a wing during early contact with Francesco Bagnaia, the Gresini Ducati rider was holding third place, just ahead of eventual winner Aleix Espargaro, when he suffered a terminal technical issue on lap 5 of 20.

“Technical problem, I cannot tell you more,” Marquez said afterwards, although his gestures while on track had made clear it was related to gear selection.

“You saw with my body language, so you know more or less where the problem was.

“A shame, because today we lost again a good opportunity I think, especially seeing the [rain spots] in the last laps when normally I'm quite good in those conditions.

“I was feeling really good. In the first lap, I had contact with Pecco and [with the damage to the wing] there were a little bit of strange movements from the bike, but for the rest it was perfect.

“So just a shame, but we have the speed, and our moment will come I hope.”

Marquez confirmed that the technical problem was not related to the contact with Bagnaia.

“The contact just affected me with the wing, but for the rest, the bike was working completely perfect until that point.

“I was still able to make a good pace, so it was not affecting my riding style a lot.”

Marquez admitted the retirement was a bitter pill to swallow but also felt more ‘freedom’ from the confidence of his first premier-class ‘win’ in the Sprint.

“This track is one of my favourites, and I know that I was always fast here, so for that reason I have some [frustration] inside but Austria can also be good for Ducati and for me, so we will try again harder.

“We have the speed, we just have to keep working and keep pushing. I'm knocking on the door every time, and I'm sure we will arrive.

“It's also true that today in the race, I started with more of a mentality that ‘you can do it’. Until now, I was a little bit more worried about controlling everything and now I feel a little bit more freedom after the win in the Sprint.

“So hopefully that click in the head will be for the rest of the season.”

Marquez is ninth in the world championship despite suffering his fourth Sunday non-score of the season.

Team-mate Fabio di Giannantonio finished in 13th place.