During episode #171 of the Motorsport Republica podcast, hosts Tom and James had a 'hot takes' segment which turned out to be extremely prophetic in the long-run.

In the first part of the segment, one commenter had predicted that Marquez would not win a single round until the European stint, beginning with Jerez on the 24th - 26th April.

"Ducati won't win a race until Europe." read the comment, to which Tom was very fast to express agreement. It is no secret that Ducati had struggled towards the tail end of the 2025 season, so a few issues at the beginning of 2026 were not wholly unexpected.

"Marc Marquez ain't winning until Europe?" pried James, after which the pair began to discuss the changes to the calendar, including the rescheduling of the Qatar Grand Prix to November.

"COTA, Marc will win at COTA." the pair agreed at the conclusion of the digression. However, it seems that the original commenter's prophecy came true this past weekend.

While Marquez did pick up a sprint victory in Brazil, he has failed to stand on the podium in any of the Sunday races so far, finishing 4th and 5th after his DNF at the opening round in Thailand.

While it hasn't been a complete disaster, Marquez sits in 5th place in the overall riders standings at the conclusion of the USA Grand Prix, a whole 36 points away from championship leader Marco Bezzecchi.

His factory teammate Francesco Bagnaia hasn't had much better luck either, losing the COTA sprint on the final lap to Jorge Martin and otherwise failing to score any substantial points finishes this year.

Watch the crazy incident from the USA Grand Prix here.