At the Ride 6 presentation and in an exclusive Crash.net interview, Casey Stoner said Marc Márquez’s recent dominance stems from superior tire management, racecraft and a “total symbiosis” with his Ducati Desmosedici. He praised Márquez’s patience and intelligence, saying he conserves tires early in races to exploit greater grip and late-race pace. Stoner highlighted Márquez’s ability to limit electronic intervention and balance traction control with tire preservation, saying “nobody seems to grasp how Márquez balances traction control with preserving Michelin tires,” and compared that approach to F1 drivers such as Max Verstappen, arguing both can wait several laps to regain pace and “effectively extend competitive life by ‘an extra ten or fifteen laps’.” Stoner said Márquez was the favorite to start the 2026 season.

Reports framed Márquez’s 2025 campaign as dominant, noting 25 race wins and 14 of 18 Sprint victories, with the title clinched in Japan. Some outlets described the 2025 crown as his ninth world title, equaling Valentino Rossi, while others characterized it as his seventh MotoGP world championship. He suffered a right-shoulder fracture in Indonesia that forced him to miss the final four rounds, then recovered ahead of his title defense. Stoner pointed to races such as Thailand—where Márquez briefly yielded the lead over a tire-pressure issue before reclaiming it and winning—as examples of his racecraft.

Stoner, who retired in 2012 and never raced Márquez, said the six-year gap between titles (2019–25) and Márquez’s moves from Honda to Gresini and then to the factory Ducati sharpened his ability to build races tactically. He suggested many rivals had treated Márquez as an unbeatable “final boss” and tried to match raw speed rather than learn to out-race him; he added he was surprised no rival had publicly exploited a weakness Márquez once had, but declined to identify it. Stoner concluded competitors face a technical challenge: to close the performance gap they must match Márquez’s feel for the bike and his tire-management strategy.

Sources