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Now it is hard to even think that last year the gap between the GP23 and the GP24 was small, almost insignificant, as some commentators used to say. The reality is - and Gigi Dall'Igna must have realized this after just a few races thanks to the telemetry data - the guy who had gone through hell to come back and try to win was not the 'Marquez minus something,' but the Marc plus something: a talent simply unmatched by any other rider on the grid.
You can junk all the platitudes like 'MotoGP has improved,' 'MotoGP has more talent than ever,' and so on, spouting bullshit purely to seek the hype. It's quite simply a fact that the premier class of MotoGP, without its true king, was able to take a breather and it's normal that without the cat his opponents gained a boost in confidence and deluded themselves that they had taken a step forward. That they could beat him.
Not all of them, however. Personally, I am convinced that Pecco had already realized this reality in 2024 and who knows that this has not worked in his subconscious pushing him so many times to making errors, starting from that absurd crossing of trajectories in Portimao, so much so that he, in the end, lost a world championship that he should have won at a canter against a certainly fast but certainly not unbeatable Jorge Martin.
It's natural that now, commenting on the Jerez Sprint result, one looks like a fanboy, but what needs to be said, and emphasized, is not so much the victories, which without the Austin mistake would be a chilling reminder for his rivals, but the confidence and relative ease with which they are achieved.
Marquez is not simply winning, he is controlling his opponents. Sort of as if in the ring a boxer, instead of looking for the decisive knockout blow, goes for a series of barrage jabs preventing his rival from getting close. Sending him into paranoia.
That said, the world championship has just begun and we should not make the mistake of believing that it will always go this way: so far no one has even tried to put pressure on the eight-time world champion. That is why we really liked Fabio Quartararo today, the only rider who threw his soul beyond the actual possibilities of his Yamaha. What Pecco Bagnaia should also do, but instead he seems to be limiting himself to making no mistakes even without ever provoking the other Marquez, his brother Alex.
Maybe already from the Jerez GP he will change strategy and go all out for the victory. We hope so because this Ducati needs to be left with the reins on its neck, not just doing the bare minimum. That is why we expect, contrary to the usual after the Sprint, a different Grand Prix, with Pecco on the attack right from teh early stages.
That said, hats off to a great Alex, the true #GoFree of MotoGP 2025, given the levity and ease with which he tries to contain his cumbersome brother, and bravo also to Aldeguer, capable after such a few races to still remain attached to Franco Morbidelli's wooden spoon, while we expect a few more flashes from Di Giannantonio, who has the partial excuse of a world championship that started uphill, while Vinales has already produced his flash in the pan in Qatar, but you know how that went.
The rest, of course, is, in boxing terminology, an underhook...
Photo @Pierluca Brunetti
