Closed the summer break, here’s Brno, here’s the MotoGP at the turn of the mark with Marquez dominating the first nine rounds after five wins and three second places, at the top of the championship with 58 points ahead of Dovizioso.
A loot, that of the Spanish multiple world champion ace of Honda who, without Austin’s variant when he fell while he was abundantly in front of all, would have been even heavier, a real “coat”. The next three Grand Prix of August – Brno, Spielberg, Silverstone – are decisive, perhaps also on an arithmetical level, for the title of the queen class and the appointment in Misano on September 15 could really consecrate, in fact, in advance, the 2019 World Champion.
There is only one question. Who stops the pair Marquez-Honda, that is the rider and the bike even “grown” compared to the last seasons, even more competitive, faster, more reliable? According to the classification, the most accredited opponents are the two official Ducati riders, Dovizioso (second at -58 points) and Petrucci (third at -64 points), both with a win each and podiums and placings, both excellent riders and therefore potentially able to counter Marquez but objectively devoid of the “quid” that makes the difference on the field, essential to turn desires into reality, a step on the podium with the crown.
In motorcycling, the rule that “no one is unbeatable” always applies. But, realistically, to beat a phenomenon like Marquez you need a rider with different characteristics but just as “phenomenon”. So, given the values on the field, a lost battle? No. If we apply the rule that “those who don’t have good heads use good legs”, in this case if Ducati, even though it has two excellent riders, does not have the “super rider” with the “added value” in the handle, it can only point all its remaining opportunities at teamwork with a strategy and tactics that do not allow indecision, misunderstandings, defections of any kind.
Already in 2017 and 2018, in the direct duel Marquez-Dovizioso, the one who had the worst was the rider from Forlì who, this season, no longer has the “advantage” of a more powerful and faster Red capable of stretching on the opposing bikes and of a Marquez capable of being as fast as before but making fewer mistakes than before.
Not only that: in 2018 at Brno the gap between the two was minimal (six points the advantage of the Spaniard over the Italian with two races won by both) and then today can weigh negatively on Dovi (but also on Petrux) a psychological gap that adds to the arithmetic. In other words, if at Brno there isn’t a quick and decisive reversal of the trend, in Dovizioso and on Ducati all the worst logic could come into play: that of the “inevitability of defeat”.
Finally, if the Marquez-Honda tsunami were not enough and the “uncomfortable third parties”, such as Rins-Suzuki and Vinales and Quartararo (and Rossi?) arrived in front of the Yamaha, then a high-risk phase would really open up for the Rossa, towards a crisis with unimaginable consequences.
Pessimism? No, realism. Hope is the last to die. All that remains is to hope that the holidays in Borgo Panigale have brought new air with the definition of a “plan B” focused on the Red as a “team” in the guise of a phalanx and not on the name of the individual pilot. Otherwise, all that remains is the last card: that it is Marquez, perhaps returning to his ancient nature of… “cascadeur”, the only opponent of himself.
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