Halfway through 2025, the Marquez camp needs to keep calm. I don’t mean the rider. Marc seems to rise above such considerations. Too intelligent; a career of astounding success tempered by a single but profound major setback has taught him to be philosophical. To take what will come.
Or so he says.
Of course he does care. And one day will attach more importance to the numbers than at present… his 69th MotoGP win in Germany passed Giacomo Agostini’s 500cc-class victories, and he’s closing in on the 89 of all-time leader Valentino Rossi, who took such pains to make Marc his deadly enemy.
The current anxiety belongs to his fans. Because it is in the nature of the sport, of any sport but particularly a potentially injurious one like motorcycle racing, to snatch success away without warning.
Added to this, the unavoidable intervention of Old Father Time. Humanity’s implacable enemy. At 32 years of age (33 next February), he is the second-oldest rider in MotoGP. Only Johann Zarco, 35 on 16 July, is older. At the other end of the scale, Pedro Acosta is 21 and his own protege Fermin Aldeguer only 20. Both are podium finishers.
Presently, Marc has made all 21 other MotoGP riders mere grid-fillers. When he can’t outride them, as when injured at his unfavoured Assen, he out-thinks them instead. He’s not going to run out of talent.
What often can fade as one moves towards middle age is the obsessions of youth. And obsession clearly defines the need Marc has not just to race, but to win, win, win. But there’s no sign of that fading just yet.
We racing fans are witnessing – sharing in – something very special. Marc is not the only genius in the history of the sport. There is a short but definite list of them, including but not limited to Geoff Duke, John Surtees, Gary Hocking, Mike Hailwood, Agostini, Kenny Roberts, Mick Doohan and Rossi. Not forgetting the all-time great duplex rivalry of Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz. So, not the only genius. But even in this company, one of the greatest.
His history is as impressive as his current mastery. Marc had a virtual stranglehold on the title from his rookie MotoGP season in 2013 until 2019, with a single blip in 2015, when Jorge Lorenzo took profit from a Honda misstep. It ended in 2020 with that broken arm at Jerez, and remained out of reach through a combination of his own eagerness to return before fully recovered and the gradual decline of his Honda.
Catharsis came in a crash-strewn 2023, when he cancelled his multi-million-dollar Honda contract and pressed the reset button with Gresini Ducati. It transformed his attitude, he claims. From now on the target was simply a matter of enjoying racing.
His return to victory at Aragon last year gave the lie to that. The vote of confidence from Ducati’s biggest bosses was the catalyst, and the consequence is this year’s extraordinary performance.
There is, however, one thing missing. Namely, a serious rival. Younger brother Alex is making a good fist of being “Mr P2”, but he’s not ashamed of admitting that Marc is, at least for now, better than him.
Pecco Bagnaia’s all at sea, Maverick Vinales fast but erratic. Midway through the year, Marco Bezzecchi has emerged as often the best of the rest, as he grows accustomed to his new Aprilia.
But where is the world champion? The absence of Jorge Martin has left a gaping hole.
Jorge returns for the Czech GP just before the summer break, but after a string of injuries, an absence of nine races and the need to adapt to the Aprilia, it will be a while before he’s back to full strength.
But if Marc were to miss a few races, it could open the door to his brother. Or even Bagnaia. And that’s why the anxiety is starting to peak. After all, not even magic lasts forever.
