Marquez: Bagnaia the same as Dovizioso but with more corner speed

Marc Marquez claimed his best finish since victory at Sachsenring with second at the Aragon MotoGP. 

Marquez was involved in a titanic battle with eventual race winner Francesco Bagnaia as the pair swapped the lead 14 times in the final three laps. 

The Honda man was able to study Bagnaia throughout the race and looked well positioned for an overtake on the Italian, however, every time Marquez attempted to take the lead Bagnaia was able to switch back on corner exit, much like his former Ducati rival Andrea Dovizioso did during their time racing. 

It was a mere image of their battles which led to Marquez comparing the two: “I tried to analyse where he was fast, where his weak points were, but there were no weak points. 

“In all the race track he was fast. I fought many times against Dovizioso and Pecco [Bagnaia] was the same as Dovizioso but with more corner speed."

While victory was certainly possible as Marquez looked faster than Bagnaia during the closing laps, it’s a P2 that made the Spaniard ‘happy’ given his crash affected weekend. 

Marquez added: "Of course, I’m happy about being on the podium with this second place because we were coming with two crashes in a row. 

"A crash on Friday, a crash on Saturday and I’m human, so it’s difficult to approach a race like this, to be fast and of course I don’t want to make another mistake, because these types of opportunities and the feeling with the bike on the weekend was good - don’t know if I will have another opportunity in the future like this. But I tried, I tried. 

"I tried in the beginning to follow Pecco and I knew before giving everything on the final attack that he was riding very good. 

"He was braking so late and stopping well the bike. Also on the acceleration side he was really fast. 

"I knew also in the last lap that even if I arrive in the back straight in front that he would overtake me, but I tried. 

"I gave all that I had and he did an incredible race, so congrats to Pecco. It’s extra motivation for us in a difficult year. 

"But, these kind of results even like this, even riding with some difficulties, we are able to fight with the top guys."