Dovizioso suggests Marquez’s issues may be worse than expected
Photo by Gold & Goose Photography/Getty Images Marc Marquez is still searching for form with Ducati after a rough start to the 2026 season, and Andrea Dovizioso believes the Spaniard’s issues are more serious than they appear. The 33-year-old is working his way back from surgery on a right shoulder injury he picked up last October in Indonesia. Recovery kept him off the bike over winter, and he didn’t return to testing until February.
Even now, Marquez is still dealing with the after-effects. Marquez struggled again last time out in Texas and was open about it afterward, saying “it’s me, not the bike. ” Dovizioso shares concerns over Marquez’s early struggles Photo by Gold & Goose Photography/Getty Images Reflecting on his own history of injuries in MotoGP, Dovizioso knows how tough it can be for riders to return to their best.
He worries that Marquez’s slow start may be down to more than just physical limitations. Dovizioso told Motorsport: “I think we don’t know what really happens when you see a champion like this losing many seconds per lap [or] finishing two races at 23 seconds [off]. ” “Yes.
I mean normally he was struggling at some tracks but when you see this it looks like there is something much bigger behind that. ” Andrea Dovizioso believes Marc Marquez’s shoulder injury is more serious than people think Marquez picked up a long lap penalty for the main race in Austin after that crash with Di Giannantonio. It dropped him from seventh to 11th, though he still managed to finish fifth in the end.
He’d also gone down hard during FP1 earlier in the weekend and only started sixth on the grid. Dovizioso told Moto. it: “Marc isn’t one to complain, and he’s never made excuses.