Jerez.- This is a new version of the multi-world champion, who for the first time in his sporting career temporizes and measures risk, and on many occasions prefers to take a point of caution if he thinks things could end in a fall.
Márquez came to this conclusion in the warm up at Mandalika, where he was catapulted into the air before violently crashing to the ground. That accident caused the problems of diplopia (double vision) with which he has already become almost familiar, to be reproduced and forced him to miss that test (Indonesia) and the next (Argentina).
Since then, the runner from Cervera (Lleida) has not crossed the line that he believes can send him to the abyss; that is, to the infirmary. Basically, because neither he has the body for more crashes, nor is his bike at a sufficiently optimal point to take advantage of it.
Thus, his forecast for the sixth stop on the calendar is not the usual: “Our natural position is between fifth and seventh, that in a race that goes well.”
Marquez isn’t one to hide when he’s doing well, and he’s not one to look for excuses when things go wrong. This Saturday he resorted to slipstreams again to get into the second row, a practice that he is not proud of but that reflects his competitive capacity, and suffering.
In his first attempt he stuck to Pecco Bagnaia, author of the pole with an extraordinary record. In the second, Fabio Quartararo, the world champion, who will start immediately behind the Italian from Ducati.
“I couldn’t even follow them. Fabio and Pecco are one step ahead of everyone,” said the Catalan, who almost gave up his chances of getting on top of the box: “I don’t think I can get hooked on the leading group or the one fighting for the podium”.
Honda continues to think about that RC213V that seemed to transmit so many good sensations in preseason, and if one is guided by what the pilots say, it has gotten worse.
The #93 was once again the best placed rider of the golden wing brand and will start two positions ahead of Takaaki Nakagami (seventh), and eight ahead of Pol Espargaró (14th), his neighbor in the workshop of the team sponsored by Repsol.
“I still don’t understand where the limit of the front end is, and that’s why I roll cautiously, without exaggerating. I’m constant, but slow. In the past everything was easier; now everything is more difficult”, added the Spaniard, who, that yes, he has no qualms about admitting that if his prototype is not at the level that could be expected, neither is he: “I have won with worse bikes. Not everything is motorcycle, there is also some riding.
