Risking it all for a podium place proved to be a step too far for Marc Marquez, the championship leader seeing sense in collecting a safe fourth place, even if that meant having to endure a nerve-shredding fina♔l𒁏e at Valencia.

Powerless to prevent title rival Andrea Dovizioso storming to a🏅 sixth win of the season, Marquez collected 13 points in “the worst conditions I could have had” to take a streamlined 21-point advantage to the final round.

Once Dovizioso had passed him for third on lap five, the 24-year old attempted to exert some pressure of Johann Zarco ahead in the hope of landing a podium finish. Aꦚ moment at turn 14 soon brought the risks of the situation into focus, and forced him to accept a safe finish, and an exercise in damage limitation.

“I’m only human,” Marquez explain💮ed after his worst finish in MotoGP since, pointing to his lack of feeling on corner entry as reason behind his lack of speed. “You have a small movement and already you feel like you are about to have a big crash.”

Speaking after th🧸e race he said, “I felt really good after the race because it was like the worst conditions I could have had today. It was wet, so slippery the track and so difficult to find the limit because it was so easy to find a m﷽istake.

“But anyway I trie🍌d. I started the race quite aggressive on the start. But I realised both Ducatis were faster than me and when I was catching Zarco I was taking some risks. Then I was thinking on the bike that it is more or less the 😼same to arrive at Valencia 24 points [ahead in the championship] or 21 points.

“So I decided to stay in fourth. Something that w꧋as so important in this race was to try and be calm all of the laps and not to be rash. [It was important] To try and find my rhythm, and I already said on Thursday it’s a race to try and find a way to arrive in Valencia with better options.”

Explaining the difference between Ducati and his Honda RC213V in the rain, the current championship leader continued: “Today they were strongไ in the a🔴cceleration like always. But the problem is that one of my strongest points – the brake point and the entry of the corner –, I was not strong like the other races.

“For some reason today I had the feeling already on Friday, when I ride in wet conditions. The feeling was not so good. They are always very good in the acceleration side but we are 👍very good on entry. The problem today was the entry.

“And honestly speaking, in the end I’m human and when you’re fighting for the championship, you have a small movement and already you feel like you are about to have a big crash. It’s something normal and natural and today, OK, maybe if I took more risks I 🔯could be champion here. But maybe if I crashed now would only be like eight or seven points [of advantage]. So it’s better to do it step by step.

“The pressure is ther𒀰e and you try to manage. I already said on T🥃hursday that this is one of the racetracks we would have struggled more. We realised from FP1 that we would struggle here. I was trying to find a way.

“We didn’t make our best weekend because we miss a little bit the way to find the best set-up of the bike in FP3. Then we came back and today you can see the warm-up – OK, eighth position. Bu🦂t I was happy with the set-up and I was convinced I could fight for the podium.”

When it was put to Marqꦿuez that Dovizioso’s race was pos♛sibly aided by an inter-team understanding with Jorge Lorenzo, the Repsol Honda rider said the possibility of team orders in such a situation is “totally normal.”

“Honestly speaking, for me it’s totally normal. I mean, even if Ducati don’t send anything… I mean, sometimes it’s not necessary to speak. If you are a p🐟rofessional rider and inside a team, you feel the team, you are smart, you have experience, and you understand that you♐r team-mate is fighting for the championship and you’re just fighting for the race. It’s totally normal and I completely agree with what they are doing and great job.”