Marquez still bracing for “a few races where we will struggle”

Marc Marquez may have taken a decisive victory at the Catalan MotoGP last time out to strengthen his championship lead but the Repsol Honda rider is taking little for granted as he’s wary of upcoming races where he fears he’ll need to be patient and pick his moments against his rivals.

The reigning MotoGP world champion moved to 37 points clear of nearest title rival Andrea Dovizioso following the dramatic race at Montmelo where the Ducati rider was taken out by Marquez’s team-mate Jorge Lorenzo in an incident which also saw Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi also go down, while he stormed to his fourth victory of the season.

Despite the points advantage he now holds over the chasing pack, Marquez feels it changes little in his outlook for the remainder of the 2019 MotoGP championship as he remains guarded at races he expects to struggle at – with Assen posing as a potentially tricky race despite claiming victory at the Dutch circuit 12 months ago.

“We know that we will arrive at a few races where we will struggle and we will also arrive at a few moments where we need to be more patient,” Marquez said. “We have two important races here and Germany before the summer break and it will be good to go into the summer break, the short summer holidays, in the best way.

“Last year we arrived here and in the press conference we arrived with some doubts because here it is a race track where normally we struggle a little bit and normally Yamaha and Suzuki ride here in a very good way.

“Last year we did a very good weekend with our riding, we had the pace, we were riding in a good way and were fast.

“Then in the race it was a big group, it was the best race of the season for me and for the fans, then we won the race but more than the 25 points the important thing was that we had the pace during the race so this was the most important things.”

With fond memories from last year’s victory, just his second win at Assen in his premier class career, Marquez remains steadfast in keeping the same mentality which has proven vital to his title charge in 2019.

“We will try to find that again this weekend, this special feeling on this race track that is very, very nice, especially sectors three and four, and try to find the best on Sunday whether it is the podium or even the victory,” he said.