Alex Marquez discussed his heated MotoGP Sprint Race battle with Pedro Acosta at the Portuguese Grand Prix.

After he started from the second row of the grid, Alex Marquez was able to launch his way into the podium positions on the opening lap of the MotoGP Sprint Race.

The Spaniard was able to work his way from third place on the opening lap into the lead around the Portimao circuit. However, it was not easy for the BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP rider as he had to battle with Pedro Acosta.

During his fight with his fellow Spaniard, Marquez used up too much of his rear tyre at the final corner, which allowed Acosta to close the gap on the last lap.

"I enjoyed it quite a lot," Alex Marquez told MotoGP.com after his Sprint victory at Portimao.

"I mean, after the qualy, the mistake that I did, it was important to remove that feeling that I had in my stomach, and I said, ‘Ok, today we can go for it’.

"I did a really good start, and when I was there behind them, I saw that I had something more. So, I just said, ‘Ok, be patient, try to do things in the correct way’.

"It’s true that my plan was to overtake on the last corner before the first one. I had good drive there, always, with the Honda and with the Ducati; it’s my strong point. And I was able to overtake there in an easy mode.

"But it’s true that, to do that, I used a little bit too much rear tyre and in the end I was on the limit. So, I made small mistakes that I didn’t need to do, like in the last lap, I slowed down a little bit too much.

"Anyway, I think I still don’t have the feeling that I had yesterday on the bike. Some problems appeared on the front tyre, so maybe we need to balance the bike a bit better."

'The battles are nice when you win. When you lose, it's painful...'

The Sprint Race winner went on to add that he was experiencing some problems trying to stop his Ducati, which made defending against Acosta even harder.

"He knew that the only opportunity he had to win the sprint was to attack me again," he explained.

"And I was not able to defend, because I had some problems stopping the bike. This is something we also have to improve for tomorrow. In some places, the front feeling was not the best, so we need to see why.

"It was a nice battle. The battles are nice when you win. When you lose, it’s painful."