The plan is about to turn two years old. Everything started after his tremendous via crucis after the fracture of the right humerus in Jerez and everything began to straighten out and, never better said, because that bone was shattered, on June 2, 2022, when the team Dr. Joaquín Sánchez Sotelo reconstructed his humerus, in an operation that lasted more than three hours, at the prestigious Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, United States.
Marc Márquez Alentá, 31 years old and eight-time motorcycle world champion, is, in fact, perfectly fulfilling his plan, whose final objective, although he will never admit it, is to win his ninth world title, his seventh MotoGP title. To do this, not only has he had to endure thousands of hours of gym and rehabilitation, but also make a very difficult decision, which was to abandon, after 11 years of marriage, most of them very successful, the firm Honda to hug one Ducati ‘Desmosedici’ old, on a ‘satellite’ computer, the Gresini Racing Team.
Goodbye to the family
The final part of the plan is already completing its last stages: adaptation as quickly as possible to a motorcycle whose behavior has nothing to do with the Honda; understand each other wonderfully with his new technical team, led by Frankie Carchediwhich serves as Santi Hernandez; know if it was still competitive; fight for the top positions; reach a podium, regain the smile and, when the time comes, that is, now!, try to win a grand prize again.
Marc Márquez celebrates his second place at Le Mans. / ALEJANDRO CERESUELA
“I also doubted whether or not I would be competitive again, of course I doubted! That’s why I opted so hard to change bikes,” Márquez explained more than once. “If I got on a Ducati, I could no longer use the excuse of the motorcycle. If you get on a Ducati, even the 2023 version, and you are not competitive, it is because you are not. “That bike has won with all the riders.” And how, in a very few months (we have only five of the 21 grand prix that make up the 2024 calendar), MM93 He has shown that he can be the same as before, that he has not forgotten to be fast, competitive, throw elbows, take risks and surpass anyone, now he wants the letter to the Three Wise Men.
“It’s already decided: next year I want to try to have the latest evolution, that is, an official motorcycle, ‘pata negra’, of whatever brand, whatever color, in whatever team,” he declared, last Sunday, in Le Mansto Sky TV Italia, once one of the best and most spectacular comebacks of the last decade had concluded, starting 13th, from the fifth row of the grid, and finishing second, after overtaking, in an impressive interior at the entrance of the ‘chicane’ from Le Mans to the very same ‘Pecco’ Bagnaialeader of Ducati and two-time world champion in the top category.
“I also doubted whether I could be competitive again, but now that I have proven that I am, I want to get an official motorcycle in 2025 because, otherwise, it is very difficult to fight for victory with those who have it”
“I have always had very clear ideas and I have always known that the only way to fight for victories and dream of the title in the current MotoGP is to have an official motorcycle and that is what I am looking for in my next contract,” he said. MM93, who, like most pilots, concludes his contract at the end of this year.
What does this last turn, this last change of thought, from Márquez at Le Mans mean? Well, the eight-time world champion puts, ahead of everything else (brand, team, engineers, mechanics, sponsor…) having the latest evolution, the 2025 version, of any brand. For the young man from Cervera (Lleida) it is no longer a priority, as it was at the start of the season, that the team that hires him is official, he would also admit to riding an official motorcycle in a ‘satellite’ team with assistance, of course, from the brand you run for.
More open doors
That means, for example, that any of the two versions that the Catalan champion is considering for 2025 and, possibly, 2026 (until, in 2027, the new motorcycles appear, whose technical regulations have just been announced: less power and less aerodynamics), may be valid for him without being immersed in the official Ducati Corse or Red Bull KTM team.
Jorge Martín, on the right, showers Marc Márquez with cava, on the Le Mans podium. / ALEJANDRO CERESUELA
Until very recently, the eldest Márquez insisted, time and time again, that the teams First Pramacin which he is triumphing Jorge Martin with a Ducati ‘black leg’, and the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3, where it shines Pedro Acosta with a KTM, they were not completely official, as are the Ducati Lenovo and the Red Bull KTMboth with direct factory assistance, a multitude of engineers and cutting-edge equipment from the first to the last minute of the World Cup.
It is very likely that, after these very forceful statements, after this change of thought, that, having lost the obsession of being an official Ducati or KTM official, the negotiations may now contemplate MM93 on an official ‘Desmosedici’ in the Prima Pramac, occupying Martín’s place, who could be promoted, finally!, to the official team of the Borgo Panigale firm, or even see him mounted on a KTM, disguised as GasGas , the one who now pilots the ‘Mazarrón shark’ in the team Tech3since the young man from Murcia would make the jump to the ‘team’ in the position, without a doubt, of australiano Jack Miller.
Marc Márquez’s confidence in his possibilities, in his recovery, in the culmination of his plan, is such that he does not mind working with a ‘satellite’ team if he has the truly 2025 bike, even if this means not having as many engineers as the officials. really.
“The plan is working, but we still have a long way to go. Win again? We are close, but we have to be as consistent as those who win, especially Martín and Bagnaia, and not fail throughout the weekend. “Montmeló? It’s not one of my favorites, no”
It is evident that, for example, in the case of Ducati Corse, it is not the same to have the guru sitting on your right, during training and the race. Gigi Dall’Ignasurrounded by his engineers, let Dall’Igna stop by your pit at the end of the tests or the GP and talk to you about how the tests went, no matter how many factory engineers you have in your workshop.
Winning is the goal
The change of criteria recognized by Marc Márquez in Le Mans occurred after one of the most spectacular displays carried out by the best driver of all time, who started 13th and finished second, after making a reckless, decisive, showy overtake (“I have thrown from a very far distance, I braked like a beast at the entrance to the ‘chicane’, but I was very, very, convinced that I would get out of it”) to ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia himself, the boss of the Borgo Panigale firm.
The entire MotoGP paddock was left speechless and praised MM93’s race at Le Mans, both Saturday and Sunday, both races won by a very fast and confident Jorge Martín (Ducati). And the entire paddock believes that Márquez’s first victory of 2024 is very close, although he “very much” doubts that it can happen next week, at home, in Barcelona, in Montmeló. “No, Montmeló is not exactly a circuit that has given me great joy, but, well, we’ll see how I get on with this new bike, the Ducati is going very, very, well.”
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2024-05-13 21:59:35
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