Marc Marquez, in a statement following his contact with Fabio Di Giannantonio at the final chicane of the MotoGP Dutch Grand Prix in Assen on June 28, 2026, said, “I accept it, I keep quiet, and I keep racing.” The factory Ducati rider was defending fourth place for the last six laps when VR46 Racing Team’s Italian rider Di Giannantonio made a move at the final chicane, resulting in contact between the two riders at the busiest point of the corner.
The course of events and the steward's decision.
Upon contact, Marquez was thrown off course onto the sand, while Di Giannantonio went well beyond the white line on the finish straight. Losing speed, Marquez dropped to sixth place, behind his brother Alex Marquez, who races for Gresini; Di Giannantonio continued in fourth. The stewards gave Di Giannantonio a long lap penalty for not returning the advantage he gained at the chicane, temporarily dropping him to sixth place. However, the VR46 driver overtook the Marquez brothers in the remaining laps and regained fourth place, and the penalty did not affect the final standings. Marquez commented on the incident: “This was a racing incident; indeed, the Race Directorate assessed it the same way, because Di Giannantonio received the penalty for cutting in at the chicane, not for the contact. We accept the decision, that’s all.”
A witty response to the Rossi comparison.
When reminded that the incident brought to mind Marquez's famous contact with Valentino Rossi at the same chicane in 2015, Marquez jokingly replied, "At least I went through the chicane correctly in 2015!" In the 2015 incident, Marquez, on his Honda, went inside Rossi's Yamaha, causing contact; Rossi won by riding over the sand, while Marquez had to finish second, and the Race Directorate considered that incident a race event as well.
Soft tire preference and physical limitations
In a race where most riders used medium rear tires, Marquez was the only one who, along with his team, decided to switch to soft rear tires in the final minutes before the start. The 33-year-old Spaniard explained the reason behind this choice: “I’m not in the physical condition to utilize the tire’s maximum potential on every lap. So I thought I would ride slowly and focus on single laps; and for that, a soft rear tire was more suitable.” Marquez also noted that Assen had significant difficulty with left-right direction changes, particularly when transitioning from a left-hand side to a right-hand braking point, where he faced the most pressure from his rivals.
Race results and overall assessment
Marquez, who lost his second battle against Di Giannantonio, received another position penalty for exceeding the track limit on the final lap, dropping from sixth to seventh place; Tech3 driver Enea Bastianini took the lead. Finishing 10 seconds behind Ai Ogura, who won the Assen race after two consecutive victories at Balaton Park and Brno, Marquez emphasized that his goal for the weekend was simply to stay in the race. ’When I went out on track, I knew my position was sixth, seventh, or eighth. Looking at the race, at best it was fifth, but in the end we finished seventh. The good thing is that we finished the Netherlands without injury; that was my main goal,“ he said.