Marc Márquez won his ninth world championship in 2025, the seventh in the premier class of MotoGP, once again activating the title counter that … had stopped suddenly in 2019. 2,184 days after his previous coronation, he returned to savor the honeys of success, leaving behind a dark period of injuries, surgery and rehabilitation, where the threat of a forced retirement came to hover in the air. Never has a champion had to wait so long to reign again and surely no one achieved it with more epic and more scars.
Almost three months have passed since Márquez ended the championship in Japan, with five grand prizes to spare, and more than one since the final fireworks of the MotoGP World Championship were lit in Valencia, but the echoes of that feat still resonate. The party in Cervera to celebrate a year of success as a duo with his brother was followed by the premiere of his new documentary, ‘Volver’, the tribute at the champions’ gala at the headquarters of the FIM (International Motorcycle Federation) in Switzerland and even the reception at the Zarzuela Palace by King Felipe VI, also with his inseparable Álex.
It had been a long time since the man from Lleida had experienced a postseason as full of commitments as this one. An agenda that has remained unchanged despite the fact that he is in the process of rehabilitating his latest injury to his right shoulder; or rather that he has been able to fulfill and even expand for the sake of this period of rest that, in addition to forcing him to miss the last races of the season, also deprived him of a more than well-deserved vacation away from the media radar. Five winters without a crown, where his priority was his physical and mental health, due to an arm that never completely healed, several episodes of diplopia or double vision, and his own doubts as to whether he would return to the top of MotoGP again or if his time had already run out.
red monologue
Marc Márquez once again demonstrated in 2025 that he is the fastest driver on two wheels. At 32 years old, he has reached his best version, dominating the championship like never before against drivers who, due to their age, should be at their peak. His superiority translated into numbers means 25 victories divided into 14 sprints and 11 in Sunday races in 18 grand prix, having missed the last four. And, despite everything, he was 78 points ahead of the second place, meaning that he would have still had two other big prizes to spare. A recital dressed in Ducati red like it had rarely been experienced in the championship.
As much as Marc Márquez started the year as the main favorite, after signing for the official Ducati Lenovo team, not even an iota of merit can be taken away from what he achieved in 2025. And not only because of the five blank years or his countless injuries that were about to leave him on the road. It is the fact that he has maintained his ambition and has known how to reinvent himself time and again with a single objective: to once again reign at the top of motorcycling and place, at least once again, the plaque with his name in the Tower of Champions, the trophy where all the MotoGP winners appear.
An unforgettable year, full of unique moments. Like the countless podiums he shared with his brother Álex between Saturdays and Sundays, some as special as those in Catalonia or Aragon, or iconic celebrations like the one he dedicated to the ‘tiffosi’ at the Misano circuit, taking off his overalls on the podium and showing it to the stands like Messi at the Bernabéu. And the final cherry on top of sentencing the title in Motegi, at Honda’s house, a stage full of symbolism where, in some way, a circle was closed.
The motto of the celebration that Sunday in Japan was ‘More than a number’, for everything the championship meant beyond the winding. The greatest comeback ever told in the sport, whose significance crossed the borders of motorcycling. That’s also why Marc’s ninth has meant more than a title. A feat that places him at the table of the best Spanish athletes in history, along with Rafa Nadal, Pau Gasol or Fernando Alonso; and in its own right also in that of the great icons of world sport, the Olympus in which legends such as Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods or Michael Phelps are found.
