Marc Marquez defeated his younger brother Alex for a fourth successive victory battle in the 2025 MotoGP season - but Alex's spirited Argentina Grand Prix win bid made a very big impression on the elder sibling.
Like the season-opener in Thailand a fortnight ago, Marc spent most of the grand prix race tucked in behind Alex before deploying strong used-tyre pace to claim the win.
But while in the opener this nature of the race was necessitated by Marc dealing with the threat of a front tyre pressure penalty, here it was an accurate reflection of the competitive order.
And in fact, when Alex delivered three laps in the 1m38.3-5s range at the midway point of the race, Marc - or so he claims - was preparing to throw in the towel on the victory battle, fearing that Alex had "another level".
He kept his brother under pressure, though, and came back at him in the closing stages of the race. A failed Turn 5 lunge with seven laps to go was followed by Alex trying to ensure the win by delivering another 1m38.3s lap - but he then saw that Marc had responded with a 1m38.2s and realised it was likely a losing battle.
But despite that used-tyre performance gap that Alex picked out as the reason for his defeat on Sunday, Marc was extremely effusive in his praise of his brother.
"Today it wasn't the plan to be behind Alex," he told MotoGP.com.
"My plan was to try to lead the race, all the race.
"Even before the race- one of the points we have between us is we're very honest. And I told him 'I will try to lead the race, if you're behind, stay there. And on lap 12-14, I will give my attack'. And he said 'OK, I will do the same'. And in fact, he was leading the race and on that lap 12-14, he went to 38-lows. He did the same strategy.
"The most important is that we're very honest between us and we're helping [each other] - because... he will win some races. More than one.
"So I will be very happy, and if I'm winning he's happy, too."
The elder Marquez said he was particularly impressed by Alex's riding style in the race - with no raggedness and no moments or tyre smoke. He also said he spent much of the race confounded by Alex being quicker through Turn 6 - a long sweeping left-hander where Marc would normally be expected to do the damage.
"He was super smooth, and I'm very happy for him. And I know that when he's confident, he's able to win a world championship - like he did in Moto3, like he did in Moto2.
"So at the end he's the main contender - or the main opponent - for the championship."
It's a bold claim, perhaps an unintentionally so, given that up to now Marc has largely emphasised his team-mate Pecco Bagnaia's Ducati experience and pointed to him as a benchmark and the rider to beat.
The younger Marquez, for his part, indicated that the upcoming round at the Circuit of the Americas - a circuit that suits him less than Buriram or Termas de Rio Hondo - will be a big test of what he can actually accomplish this season.
"We were able to be really fast in Thailand and also here, but it's true those are tracks that quite suit me in a really good way, in the past already," he said.
"I'm feeling that I have the confidence to be competitive in all the tracks. We need to see how much [exactly] we can be competitive.
"Still we need to make a small step compared to Marc. But here we were closer than Thailand, where he was like in another world."
