Marc Marquez MotoGP comeback has defied all odds, culminating in his ninth premier class world championship at the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix. After enduring a catastrophic right arm injury and multiple surgeries since 2020, Marquez’s return to top form on a Ducati machine marks not only a triumphant revival but also a significant milestone in the ongoing discussion of MotoGP’s greatest rider of all time.
A Radical Change in Career Path Sparks Renewal
In late 2022, after his fourth major arm surgery, Marquez was candid about his priorities:
“my mind is only on coming back to the top with Honda. Then, of course, if I cannot because I feel like I don’t have the tools, I will try to find the best for me…it’s my dream to stay with Honda. But my biggest dream is to win championships” – Marc Marquez, MotoGP Rider
Yet, this dream quickly proved elusive. Honda’s RC213V struggled to match the competition, and after a fifth crash in the 2023 German Grand Prix weekend, Marquez’s future on the factory bike appeared bleak. Persistent injury setbacks and an uncompetitive machine forced a difficult choice: to step away from Honda or jeopardize the remainder of his career.
The decision came swiftly after a last Honda podium finish at the Japanese Grand Prix 2023, when Marquez announced he would terminate his contract with Honda a year early to join Gresini Racing on a 2023-spec Ducati. This move meant leaving behind almost a decade-long alliance with Honda and his trusted crew chief Santi Hernandez, who had accompanied him since his 2013 debut and his dominant title run through 2019. The risk was immense: a career on the brink could end prematurely, but the reward was rediscovering his passion for racing.
Marquez himself reflected on his Ducati era ahead of the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix, referring to it as his second life and describing the 2025 championship as closing the circle on a transformative five-year journey.
Injury and Adversity: The Battle Behind the Scenes
At the pinnacle of his career in 2020, Marquez suffered a severe right arm fracture that altered the trajectory of his MotoGP tenure. Attempts to rush back led to further complications, including infections that necessitated multiple surgeries. The toll was not only physical but psychological, compounded by bouts of diplopia—double vision—that had threatened to end his career years earlier.
Despite these challenges, Marquez managed three grand prix wins in 2021, enduring continued impairment with his arm significantly out of alignment. Yet many expected the once dominant champion to fade away or never regain his previous edge. Instead, he emerged stronger, displaying a level of skill and adaptability surpassing even his remarkable pre-injury form, highlighted by his commanding 2019 season with 12 race wins and an unprecedented points margin.
Remarkably, Marquez achieved much of this resurgence without the most competitive machinery on the grid. His Ducati teammate, double world champion Pecco Bagnaia, struggled throughout the 2025 season, underscoring the challenge Marquez faced. Nonetheless, Marquez recorded 11 grand prix wins and 14 sprint victories, securing over 85% of the available points, establishing an unrivaled dominance and leaving fellow riders almost no rivals within reach.
Bagnaia acknowledged Marquez’s supremacy, stating before the Japanese Grand Prix weekend that this season had been without rivals for the Spaniard, as he competed in a league entirely his own.
What Makes This Comeback Legendary?
Few sporting comebacks approach the scale of Marquez’s return. By 2025, when he secured his ninth title, there was genuine doubt he would even remain on the starting grid. Ducati’s initial reluctance to sign him to a factory ride reflects the uncertainty surrounding his prospects. Team principal Gigi Dall’Igna admitted hours before Marquez’s debut on the Ducati GP23 in late 2023 that he had reservations about the move.
Despite the doubts, Marquez quickly silenced skeptics at the post-season test in Valencia. His early performances foreshadowed his resurgence, though at the time, his focus was not outright winning but rather proving he could compete consistently on less competitive machinery. By the 2024 season, he clinched three race victories, including a pivotal win at Aragon, and cemented his position third overall, well ahead of other riders on similar equipment.
This renaissance enabled Marquez to leverage his elevated status to secure a coveted factory Ducati seat for the 2025 season, replacing Jorge Martin amid some controversy. That gamble has been validated with strong results and title success, but failure to swiftly rebound would likely have spelled the end of Marquez’s racing days.
The personal struggles Marquez endured in the shadows remain largely untold, but his determination and resilience have rewritten what is possible in MotoGP. His five-year gap between premier class titles, the longest in the sport’s history, testifies to an extraordinary resolve to reclaim and even surpass his former peak.
Comparable comebacks in motorsport include Mick Doohan’s return from a near-fatal crash in 1992 to capture five premier titles, and Niki Lauda’s legendary comeback in Formula 1 after a horrific accident in 1976. However, neither athlete suffered setbacks as late in their careers while possessing the ‘greatest of a generation’ label already firmly attached – a distinction Marquez bore in 2020.
His seventh title was expected five years earlier, but fate intervened. Now, standing stronger at 32, Marquez’s latest triumph demands a redefinition of MotoGP’s history books.
Assessing Marquez as the Greatest in MotoGP History
Determining the sport’s greatest rider is inherently subjective, complicated by varying eras and machinery. Valentino Rossi dominated the conversation for years, acclaimed for seven world championships won during the 2000s on multiple bike types and manufacturers, including Honda and Yamaha. Despite Rossi’s illustrious career and ability to elevate MotoGP’s global profile, his form waned after 2009, with a final victory in 2017 and retirement in 2021 after declining results.
Rossi’s record stands at nine world titles combined across classes and 115 grand prix victories, 89 in MotoGP, trailing only Giacomo Agostini, whose era of dominance came during a less competitive period. Marquez now matches Rossi’s nine titles but has also claimed a century of grand prix wins overall, with 74 premier class victories as of Motegi 2025.
Marquez’s trajectory mirrors Rossi’s path, ascending through 125cc and Moto2 championships before claiming seven premier titles. Yet Marquez has attained success with two manufacturers—Honda and Ducati—something Rossi was never able to accomplish. Marquez’s forced evolution after his 2011-2012 Ducati challenges perhaps prepared him mentally for his latest renewal in Bologna, where Ducati is based.
His rookie year title in 2013 came against formidable opponents like Jorge Lorenzo. Throughout much of his Honda tenure, Marquez often contended with less competitive machinery; the 2019 RC213V is widely regarded as a difficult bike, evidenced by other Honda riders’ struggles compared to Marquez’s dominance.
This season’s GP25 Ducati, although strong, has not represented the brand’s pinnacle, yet Marquez’s speed and, crucially, adaptation to its nuances have been frightening to rivals and key to his success. His comeback at the close of the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix caps over a decade of elite MotoGP competition, underscoring a career longevity and resilience unparalleled in modern motorcycle racing.
Marquez’s own comments ahead of Motegi reveal his mindset remains intensely focused:
“The most important thing is to keep increasing those numbers. It doesn’t matter how.” – Marc Marquez, MotoGP Rider
Having taken a salary-free ride at Gresini and left behind the comfort of Honda to rediscover joy in the sport, Marquez shows no signs of slowing. His relentless pursuit of excellence and record-breaking potential ensures that the GOAT debate may finally have its answer—at least for the foreseeable future.
