Thursday, June 26, 2025, 19:00
In 2025 there are 100 years of motorcycle races in Assen, the most solera scenario of the championship, since it is the only one that remains since the creation of the World Cup in 1949 and has only failed in the 2020 edition, the year of the Pandemic. The Dutch TT exhales aromas of old feats of pilots such as Mike Hailwood, Giacomo Agostini or the great Angel Nieto, who holds the record of victories on this track, with 15. faithful to his appoint races on Sunday. That has been one of the traditions that have been lost in Assen, whose first Sunday appointment was held in 2016. And also the circuit itself has had to adapt to the times, losing some of the most emblematic sections and almost half of its length, although part of the original layout maintains that essence.
After a century organizing motorcycle races, the nickname of the Cathedral has a pulse, although it is not currently the route with the highest influx of public as it was in the past. Here they have lived gestures such as Jorge Lorenzo in 2013 when he ran only 48 hours after the clavicle or one of the sun’s duels between Marc Márquez and Valentino Rossi, who collided in the last curve and the Italian won after skipping (literally) the chicane.
In Márquez’s historic, Assen is not a circuit that is given badly. He adds five victories between the three categories, two of them on MotoGP, although he does not win here since 2018. But it is above all a very favorable circuit to his rival, Pecco Bagnaia. Perhaps his favorite, even if he does not have the public in favor as in Mugello. The Italian has the Dutch layout tattooed on his arm because here he achieved his first World Cup in Moto3 in 2016, then he also won in Moto2 in 2018 and has achieved the victory in the last three editions in MotoGP.
On the defensive, but …
It already happened to Márquez on the last appointment in Mugello, who arrived with a low profile, thinking of losing the least possible points with respect to Bagnaia and ended up achieving the maximum points per event, 37, after an almost perfect weekend. “The mentality is exactly the same as in Italy, I come to defend, but without ruling out anything,” said the Cervera pilot. His double in Mugello allowed him to expand his advantage in the general and get an advantage of a great prize, since now his brother Álex is 40 points, while Bagnaia has already gone to the 110 points. A considerable difference, but that Marc does not consider insurmountable: «There are many points, but we have not reached the middle of the championship and many remain at stake. There will be many races in a row and if you miss any due to injury you are going.
Bagnaia again sing the mea blame after Mugello’s appointment. He had said before that weekend that if he was not able to fight for victory, they had a fat problem, and except in the first laps he was always far from Marc and Álex. “It was a difficult weekend, but we took a small step forward that can help us here,” confessed the Italian, who did not just find the key to solve the lack of sensations with the front train of his Ducati. And if the leadership is far away, also the second place, since Álex Márquez is for now the most reliable pilot of the grill and is 70 points ahead of the Turin pilot.
Apart from the usual three suspects, Assen is a circuit that historically has also been very good to Maverick Viñales, increasingly comfortable and fast with the KTM. Also to the Yamaha, and here Fabio Quartararo could also have an opportunity on a track without long straight as Mugello. Marco Bezzecchi will try to defend the honor of Aprilia, while the long -awaited return of Jorge Martín is expected.
And there will be a special guest in Assen, Aleix Espargaró, who will replace the official team of Honda to the injured Luca Marini and that in just two weeks he will premiere in the international squad, since he will play the Austrian tour in his double test of test drill of the Japanese brand and professional cyclist in the Lidl-Trek. “Obviously, being a cyclist is my dream, and I have been preparing it all year, but I am first Honda pilot and then cyclist,” said the multidisciplinary athlete, who recognized that this race had disrupted his preparation for his debut about a bicycle.
Jesús Gutiérrez
