Marc Marquez hails 'tight fight' with MotoGP rival Francesco Bagnaia at Spanish GP - 'Like old times'

Marc Marquez hailed his "tight fight" with rival Francesco Bagnaia at the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez.

Francesco Bagnaia, the reigning world champion, successfully held off Marquez to win the race.

Marquez, who started the race in pole position, attacked twice during the closing stages of the race. His unsuccessful attempts left him with Bagnaia's tyre marks up his arm.

But the Gresini Racing MotoGP rider told TNT Sports he was "super happy" with his second-place finish, marking his first time on the podium this season.

"It was a super important race," he said. "Especially in the beginning, I was a little bit stiff.

"I crashed yesterday, and then in the beginning I was stiff and then I lose some positions."

Marquez continued: "But the speed was there to come back, the speed was there to fight with Bagnaia. Yeah, it was a tight fight, like old times you know, it's good racing.

"I mean, I tried to close the door, he was inside... on the last lap he was super good, he pushed, he did the fastest lap of the race, I think. I tried to follow him but he had a bit more. But super happy for this first podium."

Marquez suffered a serious arm injury after crashing in Jerez at the start of the 2020 season, but he insisted this did not enter his mind when he was chasing down Bagnaia.

"It doesn’t matter what happened in the past, I will fight until the end," he said.

Ducati Lenovo Team's Bagnaia, who started the race on the third row, also appeared to enjoy the duel with Marquez.

"I enjoyed a lot the battle with Marc," he said. "Every time you have to fight with Marc, you know that you have to be aggressive, and it was very good - I enjoyed a lot."

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