Alex Marquez struggles with 'pain in my neck' while brother Marc to miss testing and rest of MotoGP season for Ducati Lenovo

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BK8 Gresini rider Alex Marquez crashed twice at Grand Prix Malaysia on Friday, but gave no indication that the neck problem he suffered would force him out of the weekend's action still to come, shown live on TNT Sports and discovery+. However, it was confirmed by Ducati Lenovo that his brother Marc Marquez would miss the testing session and remaining races this season.

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Alex Marquez has revealed that he is suffering from a neck problem after two crashes on Friday at Grand Prix Malaysia, while Marc Marquez will miss the upcoming testing session.

The BK8 Gresini rider is in second place in the world title standings, and will aim to hold off a challenge from Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi, who trails him by 97 points. If he finishes the week at least 74 points clear of Bezzecchi, then Marquez will be assured of a second-place finish.

The world title has already been won by his older brother, who is out of action.

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Marquez will go straight to Q2 tomorrow after a sufficiently fast performance on Friday, but his first crash, in FP1, caused him to cancel his media obligations in order to seek treatment.

"So, it was not an easy first day here in Malaysia," he said.

"We started in a really good way in the morning, but we had some issues.

"Later on, especially the crash, it affected us a little bit in our work. But I’m quite happy for the rhythm that we have in the afternoon.

"The track is quite different compared to the pre-season.

"It was a bit of a difficult session because from the crash this morning, I have some pain in my neck, in the muscles.

"So, we need to recover for tomorrow, and we need to keep going."

Marquez has a Sprint win at Sepang in 2023 and will hope to replicate that success at the weekend.

His brother Marc will sit on the sidelines for the rest of the season with a shoulder injury, and will also miss the upcoming testing session in Spain, his team confirmed.

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Ducati head Davide Tardozzi lamented Marquez’s upcoming absence in testing, but said the most important matter for the Spaniard was that he makes a full recovery from his injury ahead of the 2026 season. That would allow him to be fit for the 2026 testing in pre-season in Sepang.

"It’s a shame that we can’t have Marc there [at Valencia] but it’s more important that he recovers his injury 100%," Tardozzi said.

"So, we know very well [with] Marc - we miss something having him not there, but we are sure that he will recover everything from the first test of 2026 here in Malaysia. Having Marc is always a ‘plus’."

Bulega set for Ducati testing

In his place is Ducati’s World Superbike rider Nicolo Bulega, who narrowly missed out on the world title to Toprak Razgatlioglu last weekend.

Bulega will have the chance to test the 2026 bike in Valencia, and should that go well, he could then be given the chance to race for the team in the last two rounds for the MotoGP Ducati Lenovo team.

Tardozzi explained: "It’s something that we do because we want him [Bulega] to be confident with the bike because of his job of 2026, where he will help us to develop the new bike.

"So, having know-how about the 1,000cc bike is something that can help him in the future and then after the test we will decide what to do for the next two races."

Watch and stream every race of the 2025 MotoGP season live on TNT Sports and discovery+

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