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There will come a day when the current champions will be called superstars, but it is not today, because unequivocally, definitively and impetuously Marc Marquez with his victory in Misano, in a Grand Prix that was difficult and had to be improvised due to an unexpectedly brief and light downpour of rain showed why he is still the most talented and the fastest rider in MotoGP. And probably one of the best in history.
We will not hear him say it, though, but if it were Muhammad Ali speaking for him, he would express himself with one of his phrases, "I am the greatest. I not only knock them out, but I also pick the round."
And it is perhaps, because of this, that the usual idiots booed him heavily, on the podium, instead of enjoying having witnessed a forty-minute solo that will be remembered among true fans, for years and instead of understanding they suffered only the bitterness of defeat in their own backyard.
But that is not what sport is all about. The sport, today, was those two hammer blows on the 20th and 21st laps, when Marc put in two times in 1'31.564 and 1'31.578, thanks to which he broke Bagnaia's shield today. It was then, in fact, that Pecco, in pursuit of his future teammate and probably still with the idea of trying, saw his gap grow from +0.874 to +1.379 and intelligently gave in to him.
It all started with a light downpour on lap 7 that poetically Marquez imagined could have been the tears of joy of Fausto Gresini who, from above, wanted to give his team a chance at a second victory. So while Jorge Martin threw his world championship lead to the wind by entering the pits for the bike change abandoning his advantageous second position behind Bagnaia, Marquez, already fifth after a good start despite taking off from the ninth slot on the third row, worked his magic by taking the lead of the race and passing Miller, Binder, Bastianini and Bagnaia one after another.
Once in the lead, in his natural element, taking risks at very high speed, Marquez maintained his concentration without making any mistakes in conditions where only one thing counts: courage.
Once there his lead over Pecco fluctuated between three to five tenths until lap 12. On lap 13 he took it to eight tenths, only to find himself again at +4 tenths on the next. Pecco Bagnaia was not letting up. The tug-of-war began here and continued for another six laps during which the reigning world champion still had him in his sights and with the intention of leaving no stone unturned until the end.
Then, as we wrote at the beginning, came the two slashes that broke Bagnaia's shield. Two consecutive laps under the track record. A warning: how far are you willing to follow me, Pecco?
It was then that, intelligently, thinking about the championship and the mistake just made by his chief rival, Jorge Martin, the Ducati #1 surrendered. Had he not done that and made a mistake he would have been stoned. And he was very good at accepting defeat because, as he himself admitted after the podium, the goal of a champion is only and always to win.
He was wrong, however, to say that he was not one hundred percent in condition to accept the challenge of Marquez, who according to him is beatable only on equal terms, referring to the recent incident at Aragon, because Marc challenged himself this year knowing that he did not have those equal terms. However, even if Bagnaia had been 100 percent he would still have done well not to risk it. World championships are also won this way and ego too many times plays tricks on these guys full of testosterone.
Bagnaia has to be Bagnaia, Marquez has to be Marquez. The mano a mano, as the Spanish call the battle between two and only two matadors in the arena, we will see next year.
Photo ©PierLuca Brunetti
