Jorge Martin, a title won by shouting under his breath

It went the way it was supposed to go. No surprises. Bagnaia did a Bagnaia by winning both the Sprint and the Grand Prix. Eleven wins. A record. It didn't help. Martin, for his part, did a...Martinator: relentless, unstoppable, even when he too made inexplicable mistakes. He never gave up. He pursued, stubborn, tenacious, seemingly emerging unscathed from every situation that pushed him back.

All without losing the simplicity that is his greatest asset. A gift in which he is united with his rival-friend Pecco. Because this was the world championship shouted under his breath by two protagonists who never gave us the feeling of considering the other an adversary. In the sense of enemy.

More than a motorcycle racing world championship, it seemed to us to be watching a tennis match. A beautiful sport, for goodness sake, but one that we know always ends with the two contenders embracing each other under the net. Something that has always surprised us, not because the embrace between two sportsmen is unprecedented, on the contrary, there have been lovely ones, in athletics above all, but because motorcycle racing, which is risk, speed, courage, fear, generates strong emotions, which sometimes it is difficult to contain. It is no mystery that we like more colorful challenges, but honor must be given to these two guys who never went over the top.

Then there was Marc Marquez's comeback: no point in beating about the bush, Marc made a fantastic comeback. He was the touchstone for the entire starting lineup, not just Jorge and Pecco. MotoGP still revolves around him, and we never had the slightest doubt that Ducati would pass him by.

It is true that at 31 years old Marc is probably not the Terminator he once was. And how could he be? Four years of hell, four operations. We remember him bowed with his forehead resting against a guardrail at the Sachsenring in 2023, after five crashes. Burned out. When he decided not to start we thought: he's finished. Instead he let the wick burn in wax until he saw the flame burn again. Anyone who has lived as an athlete cannot fail to understand, because at a certain point in life the body no longer responds as it did in the past. It is a worn-out mechanism. It is only the mind and the memory of what was once simple to do that drives it.

It was a world championship of three stories, lived at the same time and, in their own way, all three protagonists, Pecco, Jorge and Marc won their personal battle.

It is easy to say that Martin hit big, with a title that with a different rider would have been almost a revenge, but with him is just the result of a lot of hard work. Bagnaia for his part failed to confirm his success, but winning a third consecutive title in the premier class is a bit like climbing Everest without oxygen. A feat worth more than individual victories. As for Marquez, his was an 'all in,' a gamble. Had it failed he would have retired. With no regrets.

Then after these three there were all the others, each of them with their own stories, their own dreams, which when they break and try to pick up the pieces on the ground is dangerous: there is a risk of injuring oneself.

The most painful wound, undoubtedly, was that of Enea Bastianini, who between the bonuses for Ducati's lost third place and KTM left a figure close to a million on the table. And in addition we think that more than money it was the course of the season that hurt Enea, because his talent is beyond doubt.

As is that of Pedro Acosta , who at the end of the season by just two points finished behind the former team leader of the Mattighofen manufacturer, Brad Binder. For them there is the added thought of a situation whose boundaries are not yet fully defined.

From Tuesday, however, we will start again because the changes we will witness from Tuesday's testing are many. Just think about the future of the newly crowned world champion who will abandon the known for the unknown at the helm of an Aprilia. A bit like getting divorced, painfully, and looking immediately in the new flame for the intensity of a relationship that even if finished encompasses a story.

Photo: ©Pierluca Brunetti