When the three-time motorcycle world champion Francesco Bagnaia recently finished third at the Grand Prix of Thailand, he crouched more on his bike than was sitting on it. His new teammate at Ducati, the eight -time champion Marc Márquez, hadn’t just beat him. Bagnaia had hanged out right at the beginning of the MotoGP season and, so hard, you have to put it so hard, as the previous Ducati chief pilot. Márquez, the new one, won the first sprint of the year in Buri Ram, conquered the pole position, won the Grand Prix, turned the fastest round. A demonstration of power by the 32 -year -old motorcycle star, which rose from the drivers after four difficult years. No wonder the chanceless Bagnaia swim into the end of the day with a hanging head. He suspected what would happen for fourteen days later? Bradl about Márquez: “Marc has not made a single mistake so far” “I feel ready to fight,” said Bagnaia, 28 years old, Italian, before the second race weekend in Argentina, but the Spaniard Márquez revolved again. Again he won sprint, pole position, Grand Prix, turned the fastest round and after Siegen pulled with the Spanish two-wheeler icon Ángel Nieto (90). Márquez dismantled Bagnaia, third of the sprint, fourth in the main race. Quite friendly for the family album: Marc Márquez (right) and brother Álexpicture-Alliancehe The motorcycle elite circling in Austin this weekend (Saturday, 9:00 p.m. CET and Sunday, 9:00 p.m. CEST live with Sky), Márquez leads the World Cup with the maximum possible score of 74-in front of his younger brother Evelex became. What Marc Márquez prompted his inferior stable colleague Bagnaia to verbally add one. Márquez said: “The biggest opponent in the title fight seems to be at home about his brother with whom he lives together in Madrid.” The current form does not have to fear Bagnaia. Nobody else. But the others should fear him. Mick Doohan last started one season 30 years ago. And Bagnaia, although he successfully started the year than never started, are already missing 31 points on Márquez. “This is an amazing comack,” says the former German MotoGP pilot Stefan Bradl the F.A.Z. About his long-time Honda colleague: “His opponents are allowed to get scared. Marc has not made a single mistake so far has not overthrown. There was no dangerous situation.” This ascent really surprises? There is still air in the border area. Bradl says that Márquez is now changing the aura of the champion again. In the meantime, she seemed lost. How Márquez put himself back at the top of the scene he has mastered years ago is the story of this young season. Although this climb is not surprising on closer inspection, last year Márquez changed from Honda to Ducati after eleven seasons together. After the devastating fall in Jerez five years ago, he no longer got going. Missed the entire 2020 season, won no race in 2022 and 2023. Even Márquez, who races faster and faster than others, was unable to compensate for the technical deficits of his racing motorcycle. Once Honda teammates: Stefan Bradl and Marc Márquezpicture-Allianceducati took over the technology leader. His current stable companion Bagnaia, called Pecco, filled the Márquez vacuum and won the title twice, which had not accomplished a Ducati pilot in the previous 15 years. In Bologna, they excited the rules and rose to the industry leader with aggressively developed bikes. Márquez twitched on his lame, conservatively conceived Honda. This, although 12.5 million euros per year with a rumored, frustrated him so much that he even kept the middle finger in the on -board camera of his motorcycle: greetings to Japan. Until the premature termination of the contract was only a few months after the scandal in the summer. “Amazingly,” deep blows “made him”, says Bradl, “Marc has only switched to a Ducati satellite team and has completed a kind of trial year.” For the Gresini team, he won three times on a previous year’s model, became the World Cup press. “But he understood,” says Bradl, “that the factory drivers get even better material than he in the customer team. He knew: If he made it into the factory team, he also gets this material and is fully back in with him.” The Ducati bosses also suspected what Márquez can do with the best bike below the very best. Not previous year’s champion Jorge Martin, who is present after a fall with several broken bones, got the place in the factory team next to Bagnaia. But Márquez. “For Marc,” says Stefan Bradl, “it was very important to feel that Ducati absolutely wants him and even dispenses with the current world champion.” Inside: Francesco Bagnaihapicture-Allanceau, he had also gained the impression that the Spaniard had become humble after years of failure. This also results in its new strength. “The many deep blows ripen him. He has become authentic, more human. And he no longer looks at success for granted.” Now he has found the best motorcycle and at the same time a new home in which he feels comfortable. “His lightness with which he wins the team for himself is back. Now he can fully develop his phenomenal ability.” More about the topic of Bagnaia: “Everyone is happy with Marc, Pecco is completely offside,” says Bradl. “This is an extremely difficult situation for such a success -spoiled driver. He cannot be envied.” Bradl does not believe that the situation for Bagnaia improves at short notice. He believes Márquez in the best way to win the ninth title this year and to draw with Valentino Rossi, his eternal rival. “What speaks about it?” Asks Bradl. “He has the situation under control. Márquez can only beat himself.”
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