MotoGP broke a nine-year streak with Spanish champions

Since he was injured at the start of the atypical 2020 season, MotoGP has been marked by absence first and recovery after Marc Márquez. For almost everyone, he is considered the best driver on the grid and has been one of the protagonists of 2021, although this time not because of his favoritism or because of his candidacy for the title. That game has been something for others, which leaves the feeling that we are facing a series of riders and motorcycles who are preparing for when the one from Cervera is one hundred percent and can fight to recover a crown that he has won in six occasions since 2013.

Márquez returned to competition in Portugal, in the third appointment of the calendar, he showed his physical deficiencies for a good part of the year, added to those of his Honda, despite which he was able to shine at various times: winning 581 days at Sachsenring after his previous triumph, doing it again in Austin and in the second test held in Misano, and fighting to the finish line the victory against Pecco Bagnaia in Alcañiz. A progression stopped short in the absence of two great prizes after falling training at home, an accident that reactivated an old eye injury whose period of convalescence and recovery has not yet been defined.

The season was presented as that of the defense of the 2020 champion, Joan Mir, who was seen to be powerless from the beginning, complaining about the poor evolution of his Suzuki and the lack of a tool to fight against Fabio Quartararo’s Yamaha. and the Ducati battalion. The Frenchman became the only one capable of being constant and very competitive with the Japanese motorcycle, despite the fact that Maverick Viñales was the winner of the first race in Qatar, although the Spanish year passed in the middle of a promising course to total disaster, with controversy included that led him to be fired from his brand and finish 2021 in Aprilia.

Quartararo, who ended up fighting head-to-head with Márquez in 2019 when he was just a rookie, showed the consistency that he had lacked in 2020, drawing oil on the grayest days, and dominating when things were clear. The final balance, five victories, two second places, three third places, five pole positions and the first title in the history of the queen class for France, achieved with two great prizes in advance. He and, if Suzuki confirms the improvement that has been seen in the preseason tests, Mir, they must be two of those who start in 2022 in the squad of favorites. These two and Bagnaia, champion of the powerful Ducati project, who has managed to configure a mount in which good handling in the curves and an unsurpassed top speed come together, which has been verified on the track: 24 podiums with five of his six drivers –Bagnaia, Jack Miller, Johann Zarco, Jorge Martín and Enea Bastianini, the latter two rookies–, seven victories –with Bagnaia, Miller and Martín–, constructors and team champions, and the end of the year in Valencia with a triplet on the podium, the first in its history.

Rossi, the goodbye of a myth

In Valencia, the leading role was reserved for the icon Valentino Rossi, who since the first week of August announced that at 42 years of age he was going to end his spectacular sports career -from the point of view of the results and from that of his significance as a figure for modern motorcycling–, he was living farewell after farewell in the circuits that he visited until the closing of the party at the Ricardo Tormo. He fulfilled his wish of being able to say goodbye with fans in the stands, above all in Misano, his home, and to conclude his 26 years in the World Cup with a full house and the tribute offered him by the fans, the members of the paddock, his closest circle and fellow professionals. He also did it by crossing the finish line in a worthy tenth place, at a time when MotoGP has reached its maximum in terms of competitiveness in both motorcycles and riders. That line that is expected to continue, without Rossi, in 2022, with the improvements that the factories are able to translate into the asphalt and with a group of drivers who hope to measure their potential to the one who has been the dominator of this time, Marc Márquez. His return to one hundred percent is the most anticipated.

Pedro Acosta, the birth of a star that was crowned at its premiere

The Spanish talent factory does not stop. Although in 2021 there was no title of the queen class, Raúl Fernández was about to win the Moto2 title in his first year in the category, something that Pedro Acosta did, a Murcian who made his debut still at 16 years old and who, completely unexpectedly, he ended up becoming the youngest Spanish world champion in history.

It also did not do it in any way, because its emergence was also historical. He began by achieving second place in his first race in the World Cup, in Qatar, 42 thousandths behind the winner; a week later, on the same stage, and leaving from the ‘pit lane’, he offered an unprecedented exhibition with which he achieved the first of his six victories, which would be followed by those of Portugal and Jerez, third and fourth appointments on the calendar , respectively.

All with a self-confidence and a way of riding that drew attention for his innate ability to shine in the fights that Moto3 races usually become.

Acosta also went through his difficult moments, especially with two hard crashes at Assen and Austin, both a consequence of the dangerous driving style that has dominated the small displacement this year; and with the pressure to which Dennis Foggia ended up subjecting him. The Italian was brilliant in the second half of the championship and did not let Acosta close the World Cup until the penultimate race, held in Portugal. There, the one from Mazarrón closed a magical year in which he secured his jump to Moto2 in 2022 and, if nothing goes wrong or changes, the move to MotoGP with KTM in 2024, where the leaders of the premier class are already waiting for the new one. star.