Alex Marquez has known all his life what it’s like to be second.
But not like this.
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The younger sibling – by three years – to Marc Marquez has achieved plenty in his decade-plus in the world championship, winning a Moto3 title (2014), a Moto2 crown (2019) and – this year – premier-class Grands Prix for the first time in Jerez and Catalunya.
This weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, though, can see the younger Marquez step out from his diminutive sibling’s giant shadow to seal an achievement that is an impressive as it appeared unlikely.
Riders approaching their 30s with six previous years in MotoGP don’t usually hit new career highs, but that’s what the Gresini Ducati rider can do this weekend at Phillip Island. The maths are simple; with an 88-point lead over third-placed Francesco Bagnaia, Marquez will cement the runner-up position in the 2025 championship behind his big brother if he leaves Melbourne for Malaysia on Sunday night 111 points to the good.
The prospect of the best two riders in a MotoGP season being siblings who shared a bedroom in their Cervera house in Spain growing up is an extraordinary sporting story in itself, Alex’s best year yet coinciding with Marc’s redemptive arc from his 2020 injury misery to world championship glory being completed in Japan three weeks ago.
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The one downer for Marc – recovering in Spain after right shoulder surgery this week following his accident with Marco Bezzecchi last time out in Indonesia – is that he won’t be trackside to celebrate with a rider he’s always championed, because of the spotlight the surname brings.
With Marc Marquez, Aprilia’s Jorge Martin and KTM’s Maverick Vinales – the front row of the grid for last year’s Australian Grand Prix – all absent with injury this year, Alex Marquez is one of a handful of riders ready to step into the breach.
His MotoGP record in Australia is modest – ninth two years ago is as good as it’s got – but 2025 has been all about exceeding expectations for a rider who has made consistency his calling card, and ridden it to the cusp of an achievement few saw coming.
With Marc Marquez, Martin and others sidelined, it shapes as one of the most unpredictable Australian Grands Prix in years; here’s your Insider’s Guide to round 19 of the MotoGP season, with the 27-lap Australian Grand Prix set for 2pm (AEDT) on Sunday after the 13-lap sprint race at 3pm on Saturday.
‘I CAN RIDE REALLY WELL HERE’: MILLER SETS SIGHTS HIGH ON 250TH
The absence of renowned Phillip Island pace-setters like Martin, Marquez and Vinales – and the wildly-fluctuating form of two-time MotoGP world champion Francesco Bagnaia – could make the Australian Grand Prix one of the most open races of the season; that’s a sentiment shared by Australia’s Jack Miller, who begins a milestone weekend in the world championship with renewed optimism for his home race.
The 30-year-old will start his 250th Grand Prix across all world championship classes – a first for an Australian rider – this Sunday, and after his strongest showing in months in the most recent race in Indonesia before a late-race fall, feels the track and Phillip Island’s capricious microclimate could play into Yamaha’s hands this weekend.
PIT TALK PODCAST: It’s home race week! Renita and Matt react to Marc Marquez’s surgery news, try to pick a winner for Phillip Island, and assess the chances of all five Aussies in action on their home track. Listen to Pit Talk below.
“I feel like there is a big chance, everyone will be feeling that coming into this one,” Miller said.
“If it’s the most open … I don’t know as it’s very hard to remember all of those races in the past, but it definitely feels open with [the riders missing] and the intermittent conditions. It’ll be interesting to see where we can get up to.
“I feel like the bike can work really well here, and I can ride really well here on my day if everything is going well. If we get things started in the right direction early, then we should be in with a good shout.”
“We had good speed in the last race [in Indonesia], and one of the biggest issues for the Yamaha is trying to pass, and Phillip Island makes your life a bit easier with that as you can see from the last couple of Grands Prix we’ve had here. The [Yamaha] tends to be pretty good in the wind as well, it doesn’t get too upset in the blustery conditions you can get here, so we’ve got to try to hit the ground running and have a solid Friday [practice] after what’s been a couple of frustrating weekends for me.”
Miller, who debuted in the world championship with a one-off ride in the 2011 125cc German Grand Prix as a 16-year-old, has 10 wins, 10 poles and 33 podiums in his 249 previous starts, while his best Phillip Island showing in MotoGP came in 2019 when he held off then-Pramac Ducati teammate Bagnaia to finish third.
“It’s awesome to reach that number, and with 2026 and beyond … my plans don’t end in 2026,” he said of his 250th milestone as he was flanked in Thursday’s pre-event press conference by Spanish youngsters Pedro Acosta (KTM, 21 years old) and Indonesian Grand Prix winner Fermin Aldeguer (Ducati, 20).
“I feel like I’ve still got a lot more to give, and I feel like the best is yet to come. We’ll keep plugging away at it, and keep trying to find our way back to the front end.
“We’ve got a couple of young Spanish sitting up here, and some old Australian …”.
FAST ITALIAN FACES HEAVY PENALTY AFTER MARQUEZ CRASH
The Australian Grand Prix victory hopes of one of the grid’s most in-form riders took a hit on Thursday, with Bezzecchi slapped with a double long-lap penalty for Sunday’s main race after he took out Marquez in Indonesia a fortnight ago.
Bezzecchi’s penalty was only handed down on Thursday at Phillip Island after the Aprilia rider, like Marquez, was taken to hospital after the lap one crash at Mandalika, the sanction adding insult to injury after Bezzecchi won the sprint race with a comeback ride from pole after fluffing the start in Lombok.
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The Italian rider had pace to burn in Indonesia, and with at least one podium result in either a sprint or Grand Prix in seven of the past 11 rounds, the 26-year-old shaped as a pre-race favourite at Phillip Island, even before the withdrawals of injured Spaniards Marquez and Martin.
Last year at Phillip Island, Bezzecchi copped a single long-lap penalty for his role in a crash with Vinales in the sprint race, dropped from second to seventh when he served the penalty on lap four, then crashed on the following lap and rejoined, finishing as the last classified runner in 19th place.
The four-time MotoGP race-winner finished fourth, just 0.5 seconds adrift of victor Alex Rins, at the Island in 2022 as part of a seven-bike group that crossed the line less than a second behind Rins’ Suzuki.
On Thursday, Bezzecchi – who apologised to Marquez in the moment at Mandalika – explained he wasn’t even trying to pass the Spaniard when he ran into the back of Marquez at Turn 7, and simply misjudged the corner and the speed differential between the two bikes.
Marquez Out after Horrifying crash | 01:35
“I didn’t want to try any overtake … I picked up [the bike] because I was tighter in that corner, but I didn’t expect him to brake so much,” Bezzecchi said.
“It was my mistake, I was behind. It was a misjudgment mistake. I was a bit too fast. I tried to brake, to pick up the bike to brake stronger.
“It’s normal, I accept the penalty. I will give my best to try to get the best result anyway.”
Bezzecchi admitted to feeling very second-hand after the crash – he tumbled through the gravel after he slid across the tarmac, the step change in height between the two surfaces prompting him to roll – but didn’t feel particularly compromised ahead of this weekend, two weeks after the accident.
“I feel good … a lot of pain, especially in my back, but from how was the crash I feel quite OK,” he said.
“If you’ve ever hit your ribs or your back … you can understand how the feeling was. Duplicate it by thousands.”
The double long-lap penalty for what stewards deemed “irresponsible riding” came after Bezzecchi had been previously warned for a first-lap incident in Argentina in March, when he pushed Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo to the back of the pack as he crashed out of the race at the first corner.
TRIO STEP IN AS REGULARS SIT OUT
Three manufacturers will field replacement riders this weekend in Australia, with Marc Marquez’s substitute Michele Pirro perhaps facing the toughest task as he takes over the world champion’s factory Ducati on one the sport’s most daunting circuits.
Pirro has been Ducati’s test rider since 2013, and last raced in MotoGP at the Island in 2012, his sole full-time premier-class campaign. The 39-year-old Italian hasn’t raced in the top flight since last year’s season finale in Valencia, where he deputised for injured compatriot Fabio Di Giannantonio at the VR46 Ducati team.
Vinales will be replaced at Tech3 KTM by former full-time KTM racer Pol Espargaro, the 34-year-old Spaniard having already subbed for his compatriot twice this year already in the Czech Republic and Hungary, finishing inside the top eight at both Grands Prix.
Martin’s seat at Aprilia will be kept warm by test rider Lorenzo Savadori, the 32-year-old Italian who has filled in for the injury-ravaged 2024 world champion at 11 events already this season, and recorded the best MotoGP result of his career when he finished ninth in France in round six.
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