Marquez gives up hopes of third consecutive MotoGP title

Marquez, who has scored three victories this year but has now crashed out four times, believes that Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo are unstoppable in the title race.

He is now 77 points behind leader Rossi, with six rounds remaining.

“We’ve lost the hopes for the championship today,” he said, “But we will try to win many, many races – as much as possible from here until the end of the season.”

Explaining latest shunt

Marquez explained his crash as a throwback to the loose rear-end conditions that he’s been fighting all year – despite switching back to the 2014-spec machine.

“I felt good, I was trying to follow Valentino and I was able to do it,” he added. “But this character of the bike, where it feels like the rear is floating a lot, which we had at the start of the year in dry conditions, in the rain, again, I had that feeling.

“The biggest problem with the floating feeling is that you don’t have comfort, to save the crash. You cannot do anything.

“In wet conditions, a small mistake meant a crash. And I was already taking a lot of risks in these races.

“I tried to manage but, in the end when I was behind Valentino, when I was between the stage of gas and brakes, I lost the rear, the rear was locked. When I tried to save the crash, I was already flying.”