Marc Marquez ends speculation by extending Ducati MotoGP contract

The announcement puts an end to months of speculation about the Spaniard’s future. Early in the season, Márquez made it clear that Ducati was his preferred choice for the new regulations taking effect in 2027. At the same time, the Spaniard did not want to make a hasty decision, partly because no one knows which manufacturer will have the strongest starting position under the new technical rules.

On top of that, Marquez himself asked for a delay. Earlier this year, the Ducati rider said he first wanted to see how his body would respond after a gruelling period marked by injuries and surgeries. Only once he was fully competitive again did he want to make a definitive decision about the next phase of his career.

That caution was not without reason. In recent months, Marquez’s focus was largely on recovery. During the Indonesian Grand Prix in 2025, the Spaniard had a heavy fall after contact with Marco Bezzecchi. What initially seemed like an unfortunate crash turned into a lingering physical problem that would haunt him for months.

After the fall, Márquez was found to have sustained damage to his right shoulder. During his recovery, he also began to suffer increasingly from a nerve issue in his arm. It was later determined that a screw from an earlier surgery was pressing on a nerve after his crash in Mandalika, causing him to lose sensation and strength while riding. The Ducati rider admitted that at first he even wondered whether the complaints were in his head, until doctors definitively identified the cause.

At Le Mans, his season then took another heavy hit. During the French race weekend, Márquez crashed again, breaking a metatarsal in his right foot. Since he already needed shoulder surgery, the doctors decided to tackle both issues at once.

As a result, Marquez underwent a double operation. In addition to fixing his foot injury, the screw responsible for the nerve problems in his shoulder and arm was also removed. The surgery turned out to be more complicated than expected: not one, but two screws were removed, as well as a small piece of bone. At that point, even the rest of his season seemed seriously at risk.

The comeback, however, followed much sooner than anticipated. Just under three weeks after the double operation, Marquez returned to the bike during the race weekend at Mugello. That marked the start of another impressive resurgence by the nine-time world champion.

While the first part of his season was largely about recovery, that picture has completely changed in recent weeks. Marquez began to look stronger and stronger and claimed his first victory since his most recent physical setbacks in Hungary. Two weeks later, he found success again in Brno, where he defeated Francesco Bagnaia in a head-to-head fight for the win.

That victory carried extra significance because championship leader Marco Bezzecchi was not allowed to start the race due to his suspension. As a result, Márquez made up 25 points for the second Grand Prix in a row in the battle for the world championship, cutting his deficit to 40 points. With that, Marquez proved he is once again fully in contention for race wins and the world title.