Martin was embroiled in an early race fight with Marquez as the pair𒐪 exchanged P2 on four occasions.

Marquez was𝔉 the rider who came away fromꦑ that fight on top before attacking Bagnaia for the race lead on lap six.

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Martin followed Marquez through five corners later, howe❀ver, the damage was already done as Marquez had put over half a second between himself and the Pram♑ac rider.

Martin did have ideas on winning the race after his early overtake on Marquez, be𝓡fore choosing to pick his battles carefully.

The Spaniard told MotoGP.com: “When I overtook Alex I thought I was going to win it because I felt as though🤪 I was stronger than Pecco at that point, b🐠ecause in the beginning of the race I was struggling. 

“But when I saw Alex [be so] aggressive and trying to be in front with a good pace, I just tried to fight bac🐼k for second position. We achieved our goal today and we will try again tomorrow.”

Although it wasn’t an eighth sprint win for the Martinator, finishing second, and crucially ahead of Bagnaia for ওthe third consecutive race, means Martin has closed to within 11 points of the🃏 series lead. 

But when asked if he would have fought Marquez if the oꦫpportunity🅘 to do so was there, Martin said: “Yes! It is not my battle but if I had the chance to fight back I would have done it and in the end of the race I was trying to recover a little bit but I wasn’t crazy about that. 

“I didn’t want to make a mistake. I think weꦏ did a great job and he will try to be as aggressive t🍃omorrow.”