Marquez: Barcelona race was more pressure than a title decider

The Honda rider, who'd crashed out from races in Argentina and France earlier this season, fell four times on Saturday at Barcelona – in FP3, FP4 and twice in the pole shoot-out – and was also down on the ground in the Sunday morning warm-up.

But he kept it together in the 25-lap main event, going on to finish as runner-up, 3.5 seconds behind race winner Andrea Dovizioso.

“Honestly, before the race I felt much more pressure than when I fight for the championship in the last race,” Marquez told BT Sport.

“After five crashes during the weekend… every time, if you check, it was after one lap a crash. It was really difficult, and I know that if I didn’t finish the race, the people, journalists would push me!

“But anyway, when you need to make the difference, it’s in these situations. You need to keep strong, keep your style.

“In the race I was careful, but I pushed like always.”

Marquez conceded neither he nor his third-placed Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa had an answer for Dovizioso and his Ducati's straightline speed advantage.

“I was riding quite smooth for my style, and in that [low-grip] situation Dani is one of the best ones - today I said I will copy all the lines of Dani and then I will push, I will do my style for a few laps,” he recalled.

“I was able to be behind Dovi, but we lost in the straight, was too much, there was nothing we could do. He did a really great job.”

Marquez, who cut his deficit to points leader Maverick Vinales to 23 points after a poor outing for the works Yamaha team, admitted the rival outfit's woes were a good sign for his own title campaign.

“It’s really up and down," he said. "The positive for us is that Yamaha also have some circuits where they struggle.

“We struggle in more circuits than them. We must keep pushing, because I believe and know, when I come back with the front feeling, I will be very strong.”