Cycle News In The Paddock
COLUMN
A Race of Attrition
Does anybody want to win the final 1000cc MotoGP Championship? Flippancy aside, you might be left wondering after a catalog of misfortune has struck several of the leading contenders, with no sign of stopping.
It’s still early in the equal-longest-ever season, of course. But with several major contenders having suffered sundry stoppages that have left them either in the hospital or haunting the hyperbaric recovery chambers, it’s likely that consistency will be as important as speed in the long run, heading into the final round in Valencia in November.
The roll call is rather depressing.
For Marc Marquez, everybody’s favorite to retain the title, it began even before the end of last season. The crash in Indonesia, just after securing the crown in Japan, not only made him miss the final races but also required yet more surgery on his right shoulder.
It also, undetected, dislodged a screw from a prior repair to the same joint. It had no discernible effect until Marc began pushing his uniquely physical riding style to the limit on a MotoGP bike. Then it started to pinch the radial nerve.
Marc was still blindingly fast and didn’t let on, but he was struggling and lacked his usual overwhelming superiority. He had scheduled further surgery for after round six in Catalunya to correct the issue.
Meanwhile, several crashes occurred, some of them spectacular. The first, in Thailand, came after he’d hit a curb so hard that his rear wheel disintegrated. Nothing to do with the injury? In retrospect, not so sure.
The next big one came in Spain, the day after a very lucky Sprint win in a crazy, rain-soaked race. Another uncharacteristic error by a rider operating below his usual capacity, another big high-side, and another lucky escape.
Not so in round five in France. A massive crash broke a bone in his foot.
Only now, in a tearful episode in the pits, did he admit to his team that he had been riding “with one-and-a-half arms.” The privately scheduled surgery to fix the screw became public, with an operation on his foot added to the list, and an absence of at least two races, possibly more, making his already tricky title defense (now 85 points adrift) look even harder.
The profile of the victims underlines the old adage: motorcycle racing is dangerous.
Extremely so, for Alex Marquez, who at round six in Catalunya narrowly missed hitting the trackside wall. This bit of furniture, just alongside his flailing body, instantly and completely disassembled his Ducati, hurling debris into the pursuing pack.
Alex, at the time of writing, was still undergoing assessment for the effects of a neck fracture. A broken collarbone (amazingly, the only other fracture) was immediately plated, but the winner of the previous day’s Sprint and the likely Sunday winner will surely not be back in a hurry.
Later the same day, Johann Zarco, a leading figure in Honda’s comeback, had his own horror in one of the predictable first-corner tangles. Three bikes were involved, and the Frenchman’s leg was caught in the rear wheel of Bagnaia’s Ducati. It was a horrid crash, and he was lucky to escape with a minor leg fracture and more serious knee ligament damage, among other injuries, and to say he was “more scared than hurt.” (There were calls yet again for the start line to be moved closer to turn one to avoid a repeat of this crash.)
Also at Catalunya, Jorge Martin had one crash after another, just a week after emerging as a major threat to oust Aprilia teammate Marco Bezzecchi with a double win in France. Two non-finishes were followed by another heavy tumble during tests the day after the race, bringing his Barcelona total to six in three days. According to the official stats, Martin has recorded 13 falls so far this season, by far the most (Alex Marquez is on nine, Pedro Acosta, Brad Binder and Bezzecchi eight apiece).
As the points leader, Bezzecchi has also been skating on the edge, crashing out of three of the six Sprints so far. Carry on like this, and he too risks missing races.
These are uncomfortable thoughts to carry into the next round at Mugello. Unlike Catalunya’s Montmelo, it’s not considered a particularly dangerous track, but it is very fast, the scene of Binder’s 2023 top speed record of 227.5 mph. And of MotoGP’s fastest-ever crash in 2013, when Marc Marquez lost it on the grass at the end of the awe-inspiring straight at 209.9 mph. (And walked away!)
So what? Does it mean we shouldn’t go to Mugello? Put chicanes everywhere speeds rise above a certain level, say 100 mph? That MotoGP is too precious for its own good? On the eve of the TT (home, say some die-hards, of real bike racing), perish the thought.
Motocycle racing is life-threatening. Can’t be helped. It’s also life-affirming. Hold on to that.CN
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