Marc Marquez will be riding the same bike Pecco Bagnaia won the championship on last year when the 2024 MotoGP championship series begins in Qatar two weeks from now. The expectations, from both the media and fans, are that the 8-time World champion will immediately be a contender for race wins and the championship. Marc Marquez, himself, begs to differ.
In an article on the GPOne website, Marquez references his struggles to adapt his Honda riding style to his new Gresini Ducati. He also acknowledges his age, now 31, impacting his ability to adapt and outride the many fast youngsters in the sport.
He describes the situation with his arm as follows:
“Three years ago, I suffered a major arm injury. Now it’s working well, even if it’s an arm that has undergone four surgeries. If you ask a doctor’s opinion, they’ll tell you that it works like it should, but it’s obviously no longer the same arm as before the accident.”
Regarding his decision to leave Honda for a Ducati, and his prospects this year, Marquez also had this to say:
“I didn’t feel competitive. And, by competitive, I don’t mean fighting for the win, but being up there, at least in the top five, because now the championship is really competitive. Year after year, it becomes more and more difficult, and new young riders arrive. Every athlete has their moment. Then, step by step, they go down. I needed to feel competitive in order to continue my career.”
“I won’t be a better rider than I was before. Maybe now I have more experience, that’s for sure, but I’ll never be the same physically. I heard someone say, ‘he’ll come back stronger than before‘, but with such a long course after an injury, it’s difficult to get your rhythm back and be in shape like before. Of course, your body can adapt, but it remembers what happened. I’m going to be a different rider, maybe, but not a better one.”
Marquez was fourth quickest in the Qatar test that was just completed earlier this week, and appears to have a competitive pace over race distance. We will soon see what he is capable of on the Italian machine.
I’d simply be very happy if he can finish the season without a single visit to the hospital, and hope his towering talent is now a bit tempered by experience (and a bike that suits him far better) to go to the edge and not past it. Like they say, ‘to finish first, you must first finish’.
Hope over time it’s a safe return to form for him.
marquez was the best of the pre aero era. that era is gone. we will see if he is able to unlearn, and then re-learn how to ride a motorcycle (that has wings).
indeed.
MM already knows this….which isn’t to say he is a genius…i’d guess it’s as common knowledge to the riders/teams as it is to fans of the sport.
in an interview in which MM was having a chat with Pedro before the actual start of the interview…MM stated to Pedro A that the aeros can help or not help…it depends on the circuit. both he and Pedro A said that testing on the bike is good but not the same as gaining real race experience on the new bike during an actual race.
it seems the two are prepared (level headed) for the new bikes and the new season…knowing that actual race experience is required on the new bikes.
-also…i’ve noticed in the past few years how emaciated riders are now looking…MM and Pedro in their latest interviews especially.
-also…i said it at the end of last season… i do feel sorry for Alex marquez….no way in hell did he want big brother on his team, again, to watch MM blow his doors off all season, again, on the same bike. so far…it is as it was written.
I think his goal is the beat Ducati on a Honda. First go ride the Ducati and see its strengths and then tell Honda everything he learns so in 2025 he is back on a Honda that can compete. Stealing speed version 2.
He will be very fast. Stacked field this year though.
my own feeling is that neither marquez nor honda ever really came to grips w/ aero. random pics of dovi and marquez wheel to wheel look like a mixed class race. marquez can wrestle the thing like no one else, but now one has to, dare i say it, fly the thing around like reno air races. jammin/slippin/scrubbin/slammin is not required these days. i can see why dovi retired. they told him to ride harder, but gave him a bike that needed to be caressed. we’ll see if 93 can unlearn, then relearn how to ride a different type of motorcycle.
The best Moto2 (where they do not use enhanced aero) riders are transitioning to MotoGP bikes well and becoming competitive fairly quickly. I don’t think anyone needs to “relearn” anything. Marquez is one of the most talented riders ever to race. He’ll adjust just fine.
What do you think about Dani Pedrosa. Just one appearance on KTM in 2023 and he was 4th.
Dani is unique. He is a test rider but unlike others he was a championship contender. The talk is that he has had more influence over the development of the KTM than the test riders for other teams.
It’s already looking like Pecco will be the man to beat. While it’s unlikely that he’ll be as dominant for wins as some recent champions, he has shown as much patience and sound decision making as he has speed. This should make his “bad” days less bad than his rivals. Another publication gathered the paddock’s opinions and only one rider said a name other than “Pecco”.
MM93 is Grey Kestrel now. For me.
I expect him to crash but I’m hopeful he won’t take anyone out when he does.
He wrangled that evil Honda to championships well after it was no longer the best bike on the grid (and had already begun slinging off lesser riders). This bike will be so much better and more predictable from circuit to circuit that I expect him to be up front (maybe not winning) at race distance almost immediately.
My expectations for him were already low. What expectations for him I hope are reduced are my expectations of him riding in a manner that endangers the other racers. He has done far more than his fair share of that.
It will be fun to read the MM as Chuck Norris type expectations some of the guys around here have for the lad.
I have such mixed thoughts. Agreed, his riding/behavior was well beyond acceptable for some time. However, even his last main rival Rossi had his own history of incidents, if not the same quantity/duration/consistency of course, and more importantly, MM was finally maturing. Then all the arm stuff…partially his fault of course too. Add it all up and he’s kind of a tragic hero.
I have no real skin in the game emotionally, it would be interesting if he succeeded more now than expected, but I don’t think that will happen, and I won’t be terribly disappointed about it either.
Like many TV sports the organizers tend to let their current star get away with things. That looks exactly like favoritism to me. NASCAR had Dale Earnhardt whose antics eventually killed him. Even Golf had Tiger Woods who somehow got away with having members of the crowd move a big rock out of his way. MMs antics got worse over time party because he always got away with them. It’s kind of a nature or nurture thing.
MotoGP and/or motocross may have lost its credibility for me decades ago over the whole four stroke double displacement thing when their own people told them that 1.6 was more fair. But if it hadn’t, they would have lost it eventually anyhow with blatant rider favoritism. That’s full stop for me. That turns a race into just a TV show. I gave up on television in the 90s.
it has always been just a TV show for everyone not actually racing. Most all of the rules and their changes are aimed at preserving or improving the show.
“MMs antics got worse over time party because he always got away with them.”
i assume you meant to use the word ‘partly’ and not “party”.
so…only partly huh?!?
go ahead Mick, please continue to regale us all, what are your amazingly astute observations regarding the other reasons that would support your claim that MM’s antics got worse over time?
“he always got away with them”?!?!?!?!?!
so i guess you missed all the times MM crashed out and all the news/media reports detailing all of the injuries, operations, physical therapy, and time off. etc., that MM did not “got away with”?
Brilliant observations Mick. well done again.
I consider myself a MM93 fan, and hope he can “learn to ride”, the new Ducati quick enough. That he was 4th fastest qualifier in testing, would be obvious to most people he will be a threat, how much of a threat, we will find out coming up pretty quick.