Cycle News In The Paddock
COLUMN
Marc Needs to Prove His Point
Turning points happen all the time. Sometimes they’re small, often reversible. But sometimes even the small ones are hugely significant.
It was impossible to watch Marc Marquez at Silverstone for the British GP without wondering if we were witnessing a turning point.
Just to recap, the multi-time champion finished ninth in Saturday’s Sprint and seventh in Sunday’s feature race. He was not even the top Ducati at a track where the once-dominant Desmosedicis struggled. He was beaten by his brother Alex and by Fabio Di Giannantonio, and on Saturday even by Franco Morbidelli, who was riding last year’s bike.
This after three wins in the last four races had put his injury-interrupted title quest back on target. Now, in one weekend, he dropped from 15 to 40 points behind leader Jorge Martin.
All this shortly after signing on for two more years with Ducati’s top team.
In the preceding weeks, Marc had said repeatedly that his future ambitions lay less in adding to his tally of 102 race wins (21 short of Giacomo Agostini, 13 behind Valentino Rossi) and eight titles, and more “to enjoy my sport.” Too many top athletes, he added, came to the end of their careers hating what they were doing.
On Sunday evening at Silverstone, it rather looked as if that was happening, as an unusually glum and taciturn Marc vouchsafed the simple information: “The bike was working well, the tires were working well. I just couldn’t find the way to be faster.”
A statement I thought I would never hear from him. And two downbeat races that I thought I would never see. Was this the same rider who, returning from surgery at Mugello and still not race fit, fought tooth and nail with Pedro Acosta over sixth place, with the gleeful comment, “I knew he was faster, but I didn’t want to sell my skin cheaply”?
On that occasion he accepted that he wasn’t up to fighting at the front and was happy to enjoy the race just for the fun of it. None of that pleasure was in evidence in Britain.
This must be seen in context. Ducatis are not at their best at Silverstone with its fast, rhythmic and complex corner sets. The Ducatis prefer stop-and-go tracks with hard braking and acceleration. Even so, Francesco Bagnaia won there in 2022 and Enea Bastianini in 2024, years when the Desmo stood tall over the opposition.
This year, however, Aprilia has challenged that domination, and the sweet-handling chassis excels at the British venue, the longest track of the year. They claimed the top three in qualifying and both races. The new superiority was more evident than ever.
One vignette was revealing of the changing status between the two. Aprilia debuted new aero: a reprofiled tank and modified seat wings, but most obvious, a large square vertical tailfin. Jorge Martin used this to win on Saturday, and Marco Bezzecchi (twice third, despite injuries) followed his lead on Sunday.
And Ducati, former aero pacesetters? Alex Marquez ditched his latest seat aero to go back to last year’s. This seemed to help, along with a smoother, more tire-friendly riding style, because he was the top Ducati all weekend. Unkind observers, however, noted that the old aero was one step back, compared with Aprilia’s one step forward.
The interest now lies in the immediate future. Will Marc’s Silverstone turning point be reversible? Probably so, but he needs to prove it.
The next race, in another week and a bit, will give him the best of chances. It is at Aragon, just over 100 miles from his family home in Catalunya. Much more importantly, the MotorLand track runs anticlockwise. Contrary to usual, and very much his preferred direction. It shows. He has recorded eight premier-class wins here, while his chief title rivals Martin and Bezzecchi have none in any class. Marc has won there for the past two years, after joining Ducati; Desmos had won the previous two races there as well, with Bastianini and Bagnaia. Aprilia, none.
There is plenty of this season left, and plenty of time for Marc to regain momentum, although it has just gotten that bit harder.
Nine rounds remain (presuming Qatar goes ahead on November 8), and of these, Marc and/or Ducati can boast success at most of them: Aragon, San Marino, Austria, Japan, Australia, Qatar and Malaysia. But Aprilia dominated in Australia last year, and though Ducati won in Indonesia with Fermin Aldeguer, it has been something of a bogey track for Marc, while Portugal was an Aprilia playground last year.
Given Aprilia’s step forward this year, the balance could shift at several of the forthcoming tracks.
Perhaps Marc’s best chance will come with Aprilia’s four riders taking points off one another. And in regaining the sort of confidence that was so clearly lacking at Silverstone.CN
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