The Spanish pilot won the ninth world championship by equaling Valentino Rossi: “It is an honor. After the injury I came back too early, but I made peace with the past: every victory is a gift”
A single regret, as deep as the scar on her right arm: being back too early. Not having waited, after the accident in Jerez in 2020, to have burned the stages to immediately get back in motion. An error that Marc Marquez paid dear, more than anyone could have imagined: four operations, years of hell, led by the doubt that he could no longer return to do what he knew how to do better than all, and to be who had been eight times: a world champion. For this reason, the ninth world title, which arrived 2184 days after the last World Cup conquered, has a value that goes beyond the meaning of the numbers.
After the race he cried tears of joy. How is it today?
“On Sunday I lived an emotional shock. Now I feel more balanced with emotions but this victory goes beyond a title. Since 2020, with injuries, many things have happened in my life, both professional and personal, and returning to win after these difficult years has made it all special”.
This is also his first title with Ducati. What determined your success?
“I think the key was the relationship built with the team: I arrived and I found a perfect team from a human point of view. With Gigi Dall’Igna there is a special bond, an honest, very direct relationship. We are talking about everything: I believe in him, and Gigi and Ducati believe in me. I felt part of the team from the first day”.
There was a precise moment in which he thought: “Can I try to win the title?”
“We have to go back to 2023, when I decided to follow the instinct and go from Honda to Gresini, in search of the best bike, to look for an answer to a question that tormented me: ‘I am still competitive enough to continue my career?’. I didn’t want a salary, I was ready to run for free, and Ducati gave me the opportunity to have the answer to this question”.
Is this among its world cups?
“Yes, together with 2013, my first title in MotoGP. The first was only instinct and talent, while this year was much more suffered. For this Sunday, during the celebrations, I could not stop crying: usually controls emotions but this time it was impossible”.
His brother Alex said that, in the darkest period of his injuries, she became a different person. Do you recognize in these words?
“Yes. What happened to me took a part of my career but has also taught me so much on a personal level: now I deal with things, problems and goals, in a different way: less instinctive and reflecting more”.
What role did your brother play on this path?
“Alex was the person who helped me most. Sometimes he didn’t even know, but only the fact that he ran while I was at home, helped me incredibly. He allowed me to never really detach myself from MotoGP and then he gave me the most important advice: to go to Gresini. I am very proud of him and the incredible season he did this year”.
This is also the first title with his girlfriend, Gemma, at his side. What role did it play?
“She is incredible. I am lucky for meeting her, three years ago, because since then I have a person by my side who helps me in everything. When you are stable and happy in your personal life, even professional life improves”.
There is one of the many messages of congratulations arrived that has particularly excited it?
“The most special phone call was the one with my mom, because it was the only one who was not in Japan: he preferred to stay at home, quiet. Then there were the messages of many people: my physiotherapist, the coaches, the doctors … all the people who helped me to return from the abyss”.
After the victory he said “I am now at peace with myself”. Does this mean that it wasn’t before?
“No, because I knew I was wrong. I suffered four interventions in my arm just because I went back too early. So I entered a period when on the one hand I told myself to stop and on the other hand to continue. I wanted to return to demonstrate that, even if I had made the wrong decision, I could change my future. It was hard, and for this reason I am now at peace: the ambition is the same but every victory I consider it as a gift”.
Have injuries change its approach with risk and fear?
“Yes, it has changed. This does not mean that I no longer take risks but that I take them when I feel I have to do it. In years like 2018 or 2019, even after the victory of the title, I was almost always in All-in. Now I look at the last races of the season and I think I want to end up without injuries and concentrate on me on 2026. Nothing more”.
What helped her get out of the abyss?
“My passion for motorcycles, so big that it cannot be put aside. Then the people I had next: when you win you are a number, you can think that they are next to you because you are having success. But at that time the friends were next to me only because they wanted to help me”.
What was the most important lesson learned in that period?
“Respect my body. I understood that in life there are not only motorcycles. Professional life will last ten, fifteen, twenty years, but real life is much longer and you have to have respect for your body to be able to live it at its best. Now I know.”
Now she is the oldest pilot to have ever won a MotoGP title. Until when he wants to run?
“At the moment I feel in excellent shape, I know that next year I will try to fight again for the title, then we will see: it will be my body to tell me when to stop”.
It reached Valentino Rossi with nine world titles. What do you feel?
“It is an honor for me to match one of the most talented pilots in the world of motorcycling. When you see your name next to that of legends like him, Agostini, Nieto, Doohan … is impressive”.
In Italy, at Mugello and Misano, part of the public whistled it. Do you hurt you not feel understood?
“I don’t want to waste time with them. I try to enjoy my career and give everything I can on the track, the rest does not interest me. These are also the same people who say” Ducati has not helped Pecco “but they are only str … one year he wins a pilot, the following year another wins. They are the bikes, it is so and you have to enjoy them for what they are, for the show they give”.
“I enjoy what I got and next year point to fight for the tenth: I made peace with my past by winning a challenge with myself and everything that will come now will be a gift”.
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