2019 CYCLE NEWS RIDER OF THE YEAR—MOTOGP CHAMPION MARC MARQUEZ
P92
Interview
some of the closest finishes in
history. That was Marc's way of
being careful.
The year was not plain sailing.
The 2018 season ended with
Marc's left shoulder so often dis-
located that it popped out even
when Scott Redding patted him
on the back in congratulations
after he'd won the title at Motegi,
and then again at the final round
in Valencia. Major surgery in De-
cember left him still recuperating
in the early races.
"It was only when we got to
Europe that I felt I could ride
normally," he said.
Nor was the bike perfect at
first—hence his only non-finish of
the year, when he crashed out
a massive lead in round three in
Texas, triggered after braking for
the hairpin at the end of COTA's
long straight. It was caused by
a glitch in the engine-braking/
throttle-blipping program.
"The engine brake in the first
part of the season was a prob-
lem, but now they fix," he said.
"HRC has very good engineers.
In the first four or five races, we
were struggling because it was
a new engine, then they fix. It
is maybe not the best, but it is
constant."
His personality is sunny, and
he accepts adversity easily. That
is how he makes it look, anyway.
In truth, he never misses an
Maverick Vinales succumbs to the tremendous pressure Marquez exerted on him in Australia.
Occasionally Marquez had to settle for second, as he did here by
losing a final corner battle with Dovizioso in Austria.
