'Reborn' Marquez redefines MotoGP dominance as seventh title beckons

New Straits Times

2 days ago

SPIELBERG: As Marc Marquez rolled back the years with a sixth straight win with a commanding victory at the Austrian Grand Prix, a six-times champion fittingly winning the 1,000th premier class race in history, the question on everyone's lips is who can beat him?
Marquez had never won at the Red Bull Ring before, a track where he has been beaten to the chequered flag three times before by a gleaming red Ducati when he was collecting championships aboard the once-dominant Honda.
But history does not bother Marquez, who reached a nadir after four surgeries on a broken arm, double vision and several broken bones between 2020 and 2023, before earning another shot at championship glory with a belated move to Ducati.
"I always lost against red bikes... But now I'm riding that red bike," Marquez said today, a warning to the rest of the grid that he meant business on MotoGP's return from the summer break.
Despite starting on the second row after a qualifying crash, there was an air of inevitability and a cool determination, with Marquez not even locking eyes with his old rival Valentino Rossi when they walked past each other in the pit lane.
The feud has been simmering for years but even as Rossi sought to impart wisdom to his VR46 Academy protege and pole sitter Marco Bezzecchi, the Aprilia rider could not deny Marquez his first win at the Red Bull Ring.
For 19 laps, Bezzecchi had clear air in front of him but Marquez stayed on his rear wheel, eventually slicing under him on turn one and though the Italian fought back gamely, Marquez had found another gear on degrading tyres – as he always does.
'I AM REBORN'
With nine rounds to go and an eye-watering 142 points separating Marquez from his second-placed brother Alex, a seventh title already looks like a formality which would place him alongside Rossi in the pantheon of motorcycling greats.
"I am reborn, I was 21 years old (when I won six in a row in 2014), now I'm older, I'm 32," Marquez told TNT Sports.
"I'm just happy because from where we've come, it's something amazing, I just want to enjoy it and keep smiling."
While Marquez marches on, other champions on the grid have faded away, none more so than his teammate Francesco Bagnaia.
Twice champion Bagnaia was Ducati's poster boy and he was undefeated in Austria for three years, but now there is a new sheriff in town.
The Italian has not yet come to terms with the new Ducati machinery to sit 197 points behind Marquez, while reigning champion Jorge Martin is nowhere close to competing on the Aprilia, the team that took him in after Ducati's snub.
OLD GUARD
Many riders have also complained about the technology aboard the thundering machines hindering their riding style, but Marquez has made speeding at over 300 km/hr look more like a question of attitude than the engineering.
"The older generation still know what it's like to find grip, still know what it's like to ride ahead of the electronics," twice MotoGP champion Casey Stoner said.
"Whereas the current generation, all they've known is: let the engineers set it up, you twist the throttle, the ride height device automatically goes down – there's nothing really manual about it.
"Marc still has an idea of where the grip level should be, and so he's riding in front of that, he's predicting what's going to be happening. He's able to rely on those electronics and find pace that nobody else can."