More than 100 days after his fourth operation on his right arm, humerus and shoulder, Marc Marquez Alenta, the 29-year-old boy who revolutionized MotoGP on his appearance in 2013, breaking all the precocity records of North American aces, has not surprised anyone in his reappearance. To nobody!
Not a single mechanic, not a single engineer, not a single manager and, of course, not a single one of his opponents, who are the ones who know him best, who have suffered the most and fear suffering from it again, have shown today, After the first two training sessions of the Aragon Grand Prix, any surprise because the Catalan world star, the true icon of this sport, has already, out of the blue, entered the top-10, with a good time and some laps at the height of those who lead the World Cup.
Pegadito a Vinales
“I was going to sack, I was going very fast and I felt like I was carrying someone behind, very close, during the whole lap and I thought, wow, that one is going fast too! When I crossed the finish line, I saw on my ‘display’ 1.47.6! and I thought yuppie, good weather!. I turned around and, wow, the one behind was Marc, who did 1.47.7. And it is that Marc does not need to ride a motorcycle every day to get on it, after three months, and stick to our colin. Admirable, yes!” Maverick Vinales, who had the best day since being on Aprilia, that is, “a day to feel the feeling that on Sunday I can do something great”, had the same feeling as his colleagues on the grid: Marc is back to stay. “He needs more arm strength from him, sure, but he’s coming back, oh boy!”
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And so all those who saw him on the track. “He’s saving his strength for the race,” he smiled. johann zarco. “It was enough for me to see him in the first two laps that I coincided with him. He is already here, yes, ”said the bravo Enea Bastianini. “Nothing surprises me, not one iota. It’s Marc. We should be happy for the good of the championship”, he said. Alex Rins. “Do you want me to talk about Marc?” he said. Aleix Espargaró njust sit in front of journalists. “Well, I will tell you that I am immensely happy that she is, again, among us. It is a luxury to see him, a luxury. I knew it would go fast as soon as I got back and it has been. He looks fluid, loose. He is missing, but he is already back.”
Mental force
“Me, if you want me to tell you the truth”, began by saying the champion and leader of MotoGP, fabio quartararo, “I have seen it impressive. But for me, who is tired of following, learning and praising Marc, I will tell you that what still seems admirable in him is his mental strength, his head. Resist, endure and, from what we are seeing, overcome all this viacrucis of injuries and operations, for two years, to come back and do this: top-10 after three months without getting on the bike.
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The champion, the ‘Diablo’, who has never hidden how much Márquez has taught him (“ten laps behind him is a priceless master class”, Fabio often says), continues to find Marc’s mental strength tremendous. I see him winning here on Sunday, I know you’ll tell me I’m crazy, but this guy already taught us a lesson in the Misano test. We had been racing for three days and he arrived and was there, in our times. Tremendous! I believe that any athlete should follow the example of Marc’s mental capacity. I try, because for me he is a reference, you know that”.
Excuse me, what did Marquez say? “I have had a nice time. But it’s only the first day. I miss a lot. Much. Don’t look for miracles, please. I am where he asks me for the motorcycle and my body. No more. I still have, really, a 1% chance of getting on the podium. There have been few laps, I have been stopping, dosing myself. The race is 23 laps, we’ll see how it goes, I hope to be smart and understand when I should stop forcing and settle for what I get”.
