Alex Marquez has revealed his crash out of the Grand Prix of The Americas MotoGP Sprint Race at COTA was triggered by a sickness bug that led to him vomiting moments before falling.

The Spaniard came into the 10-lap encounter looking to continue a strong run of form that yielded his first Gresini Ducati podium last time out in Argentina, with many tipping him to challenge for victory after going toe-to-toe with Pecco Bagnaia in Practice and Qualifying.

From fourth on the grid, though Marquez lost ground at the start, by lap seven he appeared poised to move into third place at the expense of an errant Aleix Espargaro running wide ahead of him at Turn 12.

Instead, Marquez dropped the Ducati GP22 on the apex, sliding away into his first MotoGP retirement of the year.

However, what appeared initially to be a mistake was explained later by Marquez revealing he had become distracted after feeling unwell as the race progressed. It led to him vomiting in his helmet coming into the braking zone and ultimately caused him to crash.

Vomiting for a second time upon returning to the garage, though Marquez was baffled by the freak occurrence, he doesn’t expect it to affect him in the main GP.

“I tried not to get nervous, but halfway through the race I started to feel sick to my stomach and I vomited as I braked,” he told DAZN. 

“It is as if the body has collapsed. I don't know. “Something has made me sick with the food, although I have eaten the same as always.  For whatever reason, I have thrown up. 

“Then, when I got to the garage, I vomited again, but now everything is clean. Something has felt wrong. Now to rest for [Sunday]. It will be a long and hard race. We have rhythm. 

“I ran out of steam, but we could keep up, which makes me happy. To improve the starts, which is the key point.”