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Michael Laverty: 'It's all coming together' for Alex Marquez after Jerez win at Grand Prix Spain - 'The stars have aligned'
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Published 27/04/2025 at 15:15 GMT+1
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Michael Laverty paid tribute to Grand Prix Spain winner Alex Marquez and said that the younger sibling of prior leader Marc had "certainly stepped out of his brother's shadow" on Sunday, after impressively winning his first-ever MotoGP in Jerez. The victory elevated Alex to the top of the leadership standings in the race for the world championship, moving ahead of Marc by a single point.
Marc Marquez says brother Alex is 'strongest' rider ahead of Grand Prix Spain
Video credit: TNT Sports
Michael Laverty believes it is "all coming together" for Alex Marquez after he "stepped out of his brother’s shadow" with his win at Grand Prix Spain.
The younger Marquez brother claimed his first-ever MotoGP full-length race victory on Sunday afternoon in Jerez, and at the same time leapfrogged Marc to the top of the world championship standings.
Marc suffered an early crash and was out of contention for the podium by the time he had returned to the track, leaving his sibling as well as Fabio Quartararo and Francesco Bagnaia to battle for the top spots.
Speaking to TNT Sports, Laverty was impressed by the victor’s attitude from the off.
"He was aggressive at the start, almost wiped everybody out into Turn 6, regained his composure, and then he just was so controlled," he said.
"[He] made the moves at the right time and then controlled the pace. That was a stylish way to win your first MotoGP race."
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'He's exploded onto the scene' - Alex Marquez celebrates with crowd at Grand Prix Spain
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Later, he added: "For Alex, he's certainly stepped out of Marc's shadow this year.
"When he was team-mates [with Marc], arguably Marc was the stronger of the two. For whatever reason, Alex's style just didn't click with the GP23 – he was stronger on the old bike in the season before.
"But this year, the stars have aligned. He's got the lead status in this team with a rookie alongside him in Fermin Aldeguer, a great team and squad around him in Gresini, a family-run environment, and it's allowed him to flourish.
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"He's still very modest in his expectations. He's still not aggressive enough on his brother, but [on] anyone else, he's ultra-aggressive. He's a demon on the brakes – we've seen it today. He's just doing everything so well.
"I think he'll take a lot of confidence from leading the title race after his first victory at home in Jerez. So, yeah, it's all coming together for Alex. Career-wise, he's always been a slow burner."
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'Alex Marquez gets through to lead' - Quartararo gives up pole at Grand Prix Spain
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‘The best birthday present!’ - Marquez reflects on ‘amazing’ win
Marquez celebrated a victory that came just days after his 29th birthday.
"The best birthday present! Amazing!" he said in parc ferme.
"I cannot ask for more. It was a race where it was really clever. The move that I did in the beginning, I attacked a little bit too much and I lost too much time there.
"But later on, I was with my pace, concentrating, trying to not make any gap and trying to not give any chance to the other ones. So I was controlling the race perfectly, and I'm super happy."
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