Marc Marquez addresses Valentino Rossi ranch record: 'I finished first'

The legend goes that, when Marquez became MotoGP world champion in 2013, he was then subsequently invited to Rossi's ranch in 2014 for a training day with many other top class riders. Training days at the ranch are common as we saw earlier in the year when Kimi Antonelli went to visit, but as in all top-flight sport, the sessions are extremely competitive and high-stakes nonetheless. According to the story, Marquez showed up at the ranch with a full Honda team truck, complete with engineers and other staff, fully determined to break the track record - and did so, much to the ire of 'The Doctor' who believed this was an act of disrespect.

Just how true this somewhat mythical version of the tale is, only the riders present there can confirm. However, Marquez himself has now addressed the story and confirmed that he certainly did set the fastest time of that particular day. Speaking at the World Ducati Week Race of Champions in Misano this weekend, the reigning MotoGP world champion gave the following account:

"That day I finished first in time, but I don't know if it was the record, you'd have to ask someone from the RV. I really liked the ranch . It was very fast, I remember it, very beautiful."

The quote also seems to suggest that he did in fact bring an "RV" and a team of people who were monitoring the lap times, making it easy to see how it might have annoyed Rossi as the elder veteran of the sport.

Supposedly, the 'Ranch Incident' was the end of the Marquez-Rossi friendship, which had been relatively good up until that point. After all, Marquez has admitted on a number of occasions that Rossi was his childhood hero, while Rossi also clearly took a liking to the young Spaniard's undeniable abilities.

What followed was a savage battle which still wages on to this day. In addition to their numerous on-track incidents such as those in Argentina, Assen and of course, Sepang, there has been plenty of animosity off-track too.

Last year at the Misano MotoGP race, Rossi fans were delighted when he crashed out of the sprint race lead, prompting Marquez to respond with a Messi-style celebration in 'enemy territory' in what was one of his most iconic wins in 2025. Even this week, when Marquez is attending the circuit as a representative of Italy's most successful team, it is reported that he still recieves abuse from Rossi fans who have not forgiven him for what they deem an interference with the 2015 title battle.