ASSEN, Netherlands — Marc Marquez said he would rather “accept and remain quiet” than dwell on the controversial late-race incident with Fabio Di Giannantonio after the Dutch Grand Prix, insisting his main objective at Assen was simply to finish the weekend without aggravating his physical condition.
The factory Ducati rider became embroiled in one of the race’s defining moments with six laps remaining when VR46 Ducati rider Di Giannantonio launched an aggressive overtaking attempt into the final chicane while battling for fourth place.
The pair made contact at the apex, forcing Marquez off the racing line and into the gravel. Di Giannantonio also ran beyond the track limits while exiting the chicane but continued ahead, leaving Marquez to lose momentum and fall behind his younger brother, Alex Marquez, into sixth position.
Race stewards later handed Di Giannantonio a long-lap penalty, ruling that he had gained an advantage by cutting the chicane and failing to surrender the position. Despite the sanction, the Italian recovered to reclaim fourth place before the finish.
Marquez chose not to criticize either the rider or the officials after the race.
“It was a racing incident — that’s what Race Direction said, because he wasn’t penalized for the contact but for cutting the chicane,” Marquez told reporters.
“So we accept the decision. It was a racing incident and that’s it. I accept it, keep quiet and race — that’s all.”
The incident inevitably drew comparisons with Marquez’s famous clash with Valentino Rossi at the same circuit in 2015, when the Spaniard attempted an inside move at the final chicane on the last lap. That collision forced Rossi across the gravel while Marquez finished second, with race officials also classifying the contact as a racing incident.
Asked about the similarities between the two episodes, Marquez responded with a smile.
“At least in 2015, I made the chicane,” he joked.
Although Marquez crossed the finish line sixth on Sunday, he was subsequently demoted to seventh after exceeding track limits on the final lap. The penalty promoted Tech3 KTM rider Enea Bastianini ahead of him in the final classification.
The result left Marquez more than 10 seconds behind surprise winner Ai Ogura, but the reigning MotoGP champion said he had never expected to challenge for victory on one of the most physically demanding circuits on the calendar.
“I went out and I knew that my place was finishing sixth, seventh and eighth,” he said.
“It’s true that looking at the race, the maximum was fifth place but in the end we finished seventh.”
“The good thing is that we escaped from Holland without injuries, so this was my main target.”
Marquez entered the Assen weekend already describing it as one of survival because the circuit’s succession of high-speed right-hand corners exposed the physical limitations he continues to manage following previous injuries.
He explained that the greatest difficulty came during rapid changes of direction, particularly when transitioning from left-hand corners into heavy braking zones on the right side of the circuit.
“Assen has very high-speed corners but I’m struggling a lot from the left corner to the right one, especially if I need to change from the left and arrive at a brake point on the right side,” he said.
“There is where I’m struggling more and today this is where the people attack me.”
Marquez and Ducati also made a strategic gamble before the race by fitting a soft rear tire, making him the only front-running rider to adopt that compound.
The Spaniard said the decision reflected his inability to consistently exploit the harder option because of his physical condition.
“I don’t have the physical condition to take the maximum potential of the tyre on all laps,” Marquez explained.
“So I said, ‘I will ride the bike slowly and just push single laps,’ and to push single laps the soft rear was better.”
Despite finishing outside the top five, Marquez considered the weekend a success given the circumstances. Avoiding further injury remained the priority as the MotoGP championship heads into its next phase, with the Ducati rider hoping improved fitness will allow him to return to the front of the field in the coming rounds.
